Mass Effect: Broken Forever
by Hershel Greene
Summary: After losing his entire squad at Elysium, including his adoptive quarian brother, Shepard has constant and dangerous outbursts when his family or quarians in general are insulted. He joined the Alliance as an N7, he embraced God, he found a friend in Captain Anderson. None of it helped soothe him. He is broken, and only a certain quarian engineer can fix him. ME:1 story.
1. The Beginning

John Shepard laid awake in his bed, after another nightmare had filled his brain as he slept, the same as it always did.

Staring up at the ceiling of his small room on Blista Station, his legs crossed at the foot of his bed, his arms behind his head and crossed. He continued to stare blankly at the metal plate roofing above him, tracing the lines in between metal sheets that had been welded together when the station was built, counting how many bolts speckled the gray metal sheets.

He suppressed thoughts in his head, surfacing from his dream, pictures that he could never unsee.

A male quarian dressed in white cloths and silver shining metals studded with bronze bolts and lines. The purest and most innocent thing you'd ever see, he was a skinny quarian, with not much muscle mass to him; Relaxed in his stance, standing on a walkway with the blue sea of Elysium's sky behind him. If he had been a she, or had a sister counter-part, then she would have been two times as calm and innocent as he.

Then, in an instant, he was no longer so innocent and pure. A sniper rifle rested in his hands, pointed down as if he was resting it and searching for a target. Now, blood took to his blackened visor, leaking out of the cracks of the plate where a bullet had penetrated. Falling back from the walkway, his body limp, flopping freely in the air, and lifeless until it went out of view and into a stream of water.

Shepard's eyes tightened, trying to squeeze the sight from his brain, but it only seemed to imprint it further into his memory.

The images flashed again, revealing a petite human woman, kindly smiling to Shepard. She had short black hair, half of her bangs covering an eye as the rest was brushed behind an ear. She had a small rounded face; A small upward pointing nose, full red lips, and emerald green eyes.

Her smile began to fade, as blood began to appear. A thin slit of red drew a line across her throat, letting blood loose from her the opening, covering her Alliance armor. As the blood cascaded down her neck, drenching her in the sticky red fluid, she coughed up blood. An ear disappeared, a small bloody mound of skin left behind with a hole in the side of her head where the ear used to be, staining and matting her shining black hair with the red fluid. She fell to the ground. Ground that was already covered in bodies, only to add hers to the mess of dead flesh that already existed.

Shepard shot his hands up to his head, trying to pull his curly brown hair from the scalp. His efforts were fruitless, as another figure came into sight.

A blond man, handsome but looking afraid and alone. His yellow hair had patches of white in it, making him look like some cartoon character. He had a square jaw, straight nose, thin lips, and blue eyes.

The normal man lost his regular shape, turning just like the others into something gruesome. His ocean blue eyes let salty tear water fall from them, and several holes appeared on his stomach, leaking crimson blood through his Alliance armor.

Shepard knew what would be next, as he saw it first hand and was the worst of the ways his friends could have died.

The blond man smiled once at Shepard, and his face began to literally crumble. Flesh burned in an instant from a side of his face, to the point you could see charred and blackened bone underneath it. Fingers disappeared from his hands, leaving only shattered and clipped phalanges behind.

The next images to appear didn't make him sad, or bring tears to his eyes, instead they made him want to kill anyone who even closely resembled them.

He saw a human man, young looking, smug looking, naïve looking. He had spiked brown hair, jelled up with the front pointing in the air. He had a pointed chin, broken nose that bled slowly, and soulless gray eyes.

He gave a single wink to Shepard, and silently started to chuckle, others that resembled him in looks appeared behind him, helping in the laughing and mocking.

The last face to appear, a slimy looking batarian, his lips covered in red dripping blood, and some flesh in between his teeth. He wore a black armor, parts of it chipped and scrapped to look white. He had a black flat cap on, with an insignia on it; A batarian face, each of the four eyes a different color, from red, to blue, to yellow, to green. He snapped his teeth to Shepard, and gave a similar laugh that the other man gave him, red blood flying from his mouth as he laughed.

"Argh!" Shepard let out a quick scream, shoving off the bed and running into his bathroom.

Slapping his hands onto the metallic sink counter, he whipped a hand at the faucet, turning it on. Cupping the water in his hands he used it to wash away his bad memories, but they were made of too strong a material to be simply washed away.

He looked up with his dreary eyes, staring at his reflection in the mirror, he gave himself a blank stare.

Strands of his hair reddish-brown and curly hair drooping in his face, he batted them away with his hands and brushed them back into place.

John had curly brown hair with few red highlights, twirly hair that he kept short and well conditioned. He had light skin, not tanned or blemished in any way. He had a straight but small nose, a scar lining the bridge of it. He had brown eyebrows, under which laid his honest and innocent looking eyes. His eyes were a light shade of blue, specks of white scarcely covering the blue diamond rings. He had straight and white shining teeth; when smiling he looked like the nicest man you'd ever meet, but when baring his teeth or gritting them he seemed as though he would kill you for looking at him wrong. He had a beard, short and fuzzy hair that matched his other hair, covering his cheeks, chin, and lip.

_I love you like a father Anderson, but that whole chat about how it'll get easier was a complete lie. _He thought of his friend, a long time friend he had acquired after Elysium.

Shepard lazily looked to the digital clock in his bedroom, looking through the bathroom door.

_Ah shit... I'm late._ Shepard grumbled inside his head, proceeding to his bedroom to get changed.

He slipped on the standard Alliance crew uniform. It's dark-gray trousers clasped to him and secured with a belt, tucking in his white and gray shirt, and rolling up the sleeves to his bicep.

He locked his fingers together and pushed his arms forward, popping nearly every joint in the upper part of his body. Letting out a gratifying sigh at the stretch, he looked down to the lock-box at the foot of his bed.

He bent down and raised it to the bed, turning a latch and opening it with one quick motion.

He looked inside, seeing all of his personal effects kept neat and tidy inside. One in particular he placed great care into.

He reached his hands inside, lifting a gold shining necklace from the box.

He smiled at the thing, and stuffed it into his pocket. It was a rosary passed down from his godfather, to his girlfriend, to him, to his brother... and then back to him. It carried a special place to Shepard, and even made him feel safe when it was in his possession.

His brother claimed that as long as he had it, he would never be killed. Shepard believed this, for the most part. He still understood that he'd have to train to be a proper soldier, fight when attacked, because he couldn't just sit idly by and let God do all the work for him.

All this thinking of his brother started to flood memories into his head, recollecting the earliest memories of his little brother.

He may not have been Shepard's brother by blood, or even by name, but Shepard and his parents welcomed him as a member none-the-less.

Richard Zachary. A name given to him by Shepard's parents–an acronym for the two letters on his little enviro-suit's chest-piece. As a kid Richard wore a pink and white enviro-suit, one that a gang of brothers was quick to mock him for. And Shepard was quick to defend his adoptive brother, and give the bullies what they deserved._  
><em>

Richard was always giddy and bubbly as a kid, bouncing around constantly and always pestering his older brother for attention. Shepard didn't mind, in fact he liked it. Richard was with Shepard since they were both kids–though Richard was two years Shepard's junior–they got along as if they were with each other since birth.

Shepard was never one hundred percent sure how Richard came to be in his parents possession. His earliest memories told him that Richard was given away by a pair of quarians who no longer wanted him, though Shepard couldn't tell why, because Richard was one of the greatest things that ever happened to him. The quarian parents came in the night, speaking of another child they had. Shepard didn't know it then, but he did now, quarians can't have more than one child unless otherwise permitted by the Migrant Fleet.

The thing that made Richard stand out most was his theistic beliefs. He didn't believe in 'ancestors' as regular quarians did, instead he was Christian, a result of growing up with Shepard's parents. While early Shepard was a bit ... careless in that department. He blamed God for his parents' deaths, while Richard found solace in God after their death. This contrast in beliefs separated them for a while, though they still cared for each other, Shepard decided to spend more time with other friends and being popular.

Slowly closing his eyes Shepard stopped the flood of memories at a happy point, and thought of the task at hand, getting to the Normandy.

His next assignment given by his friend and superior, Anderson. He was to meet with him at the Normandy, and lead a team to Eden Prime.

Shepard was forced to do paperwork for the upcoming event, regardless he forgot most of what he wrote down. And he did write it down... on paper... a punishment delivered by a superior who Shepard had tried to attack. Thankfully he was held back by several other Admirals, but Shepard still wouldn't forget what Admiral Diesburg said. He mocked Shepard's past, and about his '_great victory' _at Elysium, even going as far as insulting Shepard's deceased brother.

_I can't even remember who else was supposed to be there._ Shepard thought, trying deeply to grasp a name he had written down several times on his paperwork. _Negan, Niktor, Nevan... No, none of those are it. Oh well._ He gave up trying and thought back to the Admiral of the station he was on.

This German Admiral had been chewing at everything Shepard did since after Elysium, though Shepard never knew exactly why, he expected it was because of his quick rise in rank and to fame.

Now, closing the lock-box, he set it down and moved to leave his room.

This would be the last time for a while he'd be on this dreaded station; The station administrated by his arch-enemy, Admiral Diesburg.

Shepard took quick and sharp glances around the corridors of the station, making sure not to find Diesburg nearby, lest he get into another confrontation with him. Once he thought he was safe, he locked his room's door and proceeded to find wherever this Normandy was docked.

Blista Station was a marvelous thing, so grand in fact that Shepard didn't think it deserved to be governed by a man like Diesburg. It had large hallways, with metal walls so white, smooth, and shiny it rivaled a pearl's surface. Small rectangular ports lined parts of the halls, out of which could be seen several ships docking and leaving the large station, neon colors of reds, pinks, and oranges flashing around the station.

Shepard smiled as he admired the cluttered space of ships, and looked forward to a corner, readying to cross it.

His past may have been a haunted one, but that didn't give him any cause to detest his life and be a hermit. He could still find pleasure in the smaller things, though he was testy about his past.

He turned and literally bumped into an older man, nearly knocking him over with the collision.

Shepard lunged his arms out to grab the man, and steady him in an upright position.

The man in question quickly stuffed an earpiece from his ear into his pants pocket. "Ah ... Shepard." Started Admiral Diesburg, at first sounding distressed though it quickly faded once he saw the person who he had collided with. "Keep your head up and eyes forward when you're puttering about my station. I won't have you making a bad example of my station. Understood?" He more demanded than asked.

Diesburg had gray hair, only few streaks and highlights of blond lacing it. He had an old sagging face, wrinkles cluttering his old features. He had blue eyes, though they were baggy, twitched often, and seemed to get bluer every time Shepard saw them. Diesburg was a frail looking man, though that was all an act, in reality he was strong, cold, and calculating. He always stood confident and high in pride.

"Understood." Shepard just smiled at his superior, hiding any hate or contempt he harbored for the man. Putting on the best smile Shepard could, he froze his face with his white teeth shining at Diesburg. _You dumb piece of shit, if you say a single thing against me or my friends I'll throw you out your own station's airlock. Understood?_ Shepard thought through his shiny grin, giving a quick salute to the man who immediately waved it off rather than return one.

Diesburg sneered at Shepard, and grunted. "Get to your ship, it would be a shame if you missed it, and I had to keep your worthless hide around here. Though I think you'd fit in somewhere ... maybe a janitor?" Diesburg suggested, tilting his head in question to Shepard.

Shepard just smiled at his joke, knowing it was more of an insult, though he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of getting mad at it. _Say whatever you want about me you bastard, just don't push it, and I won't push you down a 10,000 meter shaft that leads directly to a dreadnaught's drive core._

He grunted at Shepard, made an about face, and began walking away. _He's a damn Nazi. _Shepard thought, watching the rude German Alliance officer walk away. _Oops, I actually wanted to ask him something._

Before he was too far away Shepard called out to him. "Excuse me sir! I was wondering if you knew where the Normandy was docked at?" Shepard called to him, in a voice that echoed around the empty halls.

Diesburg kept walking, either his senility was catching up with his ears, or he simply ignored Shepard.

"Oh... Alright... I'll just go fuck myself then," Shepard mumbled and nodded at the ignorant man who left. Shepard decided to start walking in a different direction to find the Normandy.

Shepard eventually found his way to the Normandy, after asking a few passerby's for directions.

Walking up to the large thick glass plated window, he marveled at the Normandy–this being the first time he'd actually seen it. _That's one big-ass ship to be a Stealth ship. But, of course SR-1 means Stealth Reconnaissance, and that it's meant to stay of radars and cloak when needed. _He let out a drawn out sigh. _Time to go meet the crew._

Boarding the ship through the docking doors, and stepping into the decontamination-like chamber. He waited on the blue scanning light that rolled over his body several times before opening the doors and allowing him to enter.

Shepard heard voices to his left, two males by the sound of it.

He turned the corner and found himself in the cockpit of the Normandy. A man wearing an Alliance cap sat in the pilot's chair, with another man to his right, talking among each other.

"I spy something ... white!" the pilot exclaimed, looking to his friend for an answer to the game.

"Blista Station," the man replied, sounding bored of the game.

"Right again ... you're good at this, Kaidan. Your turn."

"I spy something ..." the tired man replied, looking out the front window and into part of the station that the Normandy faced.

"I spy some people who should be on task and following protocol," Shepard responded, walking over to the pilot and Alliance marine. His tall form towering over the sitting pilot, and casting a large shadow over him.

Shepard was a very tall man, towering above the shorter soldiers and people he worked with, standing at 6'2". He was also considerably muscular, results of the training he went through as an N7.

"Cuh-Cuh-Commander," The man chuckled, though the fear broke through his words. "I didn't know you were aboard yet." He turned in his chair to look up at Shepard. "Sorry."

The man next to the pilot just smiled at him, thinking he'd be reprimanded or yelled at for being off-task. Though he himself was off-task as well.

"Hmm," Shepard hummed, looking down at the man and scratching at his thin-brown-haired chin. "I'll let you off with a warning this time ... just don't let it happen again." Shepard let a smile creep onto his face after he spoke, revealing his joking nature to the stressed pilot.

"Oh ... You're kidding, right?" Shepard smiled wider and nodded, shutting his eyes as he'd failed at messing with the man, and admitted the truth. "Good! I thought for a second I'd get kicked out or something. Don't do stuff like that. It scares my poor little heart."

"Did you just give me a command?" Shepard asked him, referring to his response.

"Um ... No! I didn't mean it like ..."

Shepard smiled again.

"You're joking?" Joker asked again.

"Yes." Shepard decided to let the man have a break now, the sweat on the pilot's forehead finally stopped running, and he seemed a thousand times more relaxed. "I am of course, Commander Shepard. Your names are?" Shepard asked, looking back and forth between the two men.

"I'm Joker ... or, at least that's what people here call me, my real name's Jeff. That sulking sack of potatoes over there is Kaidan." Joker lifted a hand to shield his words from Kaidan's view. "He's not a very lively guy," He tried a whisper, but failed miserably, but maybe that was his intention.

"I heard that, Joker. But, I'm sure you knew that already," Kaidan added, a half smile on his face.

"See what I mean?" Joker said, nodding slowly and pursing his lips.

"Yeah, I think I see what you mean," Shepard replied to Joker and looked to Kaidan, shaking his head to show him that he didn't agree with Joker.

"Humph! Hey, by-the-way, Anderson said to tell you he wants to see you. He's in the briefing room."

"Alright. Thank you. I'll meet him there." Shepard nodded to the two men and started his walk to Anderson.

"I guess I'll send us to Eden Prime then," Joker stated, clicking the appropriate buttons to send the ship from Blista Station to a mass relay and then to Eden Prime.

Shepard left them to their business, getting ready to jump to Eden Prime soon. He walked through a walkway on the Normandy's bridge, looking down and to his sides where people sat in seats and did their work on consoles to keep the ship 'afloat'.

_This is going to be a long mission. I can feel it ... somehow._

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong> So that's it for now. I've never been much for writing big chapters, so hopefully this 4000+ word chapter should be good enough.

This story will contain a fair amount of OC, character from ME2, and be a little dark, as well as interesting in plot, ever-changing and intriguing... hopefully you'll like reading it.

If you have any questions for some reason, feel free to PM me. And of course you're encouraged to review, it's always good to hear what people think about either my writing in general, the plot, or the characters.


	2. The Beacon

With Shepard's presence the sliding doors in front of him opened, revealing the Comm room where he was to meet Anderson and 'that one guy who's name he forgot,' standing in a circular room lined with chairs.

Shepard walked inside, gaining the attention of the two men. "Shepard," Anderson gladly greeted him, smiling, he walked up to Shepard and patted him once on the arm. "Glad you're here. We were just getting ready to discuss the mission," Anderson said, leading Shepard back to where he earlier stood with the turian.

"Oh? What is it we're doing exactly?" Shepard replied, looking to his friend as they walked back to the turian man.

"You didn't read the report for the mission?" Anderson asked, sounding surprised considering Shepard was usually prepared for any mission at any time.

"I did ... In fact Deisburg had me write it down ... on _paper_," Shepard grumbled, stressing the fact he had to do it on paper and rolling his eyes to it.

"Hmm ... sorry to say it Shepard, but you both had it coming," Anderson said, nodding his head.

"What! You've got to be kidding me?" Shepard blurted out, looking in shock to his older friend. "He insulted all of my frie-"

"And you tried to beat him senseless," Anderson interrupted, in a calm voice, but still demanding of Shepard's attention and complete silence.

"I understand, but-"

"No buts, Shepard. You could have killed the man, regardless of what he said, he doesn't deserve to get killed or even beaten up," The Captain strained his voice, wanting it to be the end of the conversation. Shepard just groaned in a disagreeing way. "I know you don't like him. I don't even like the guy. But, it doesn't matter what he says about your past, the dead can't hear him," Anderson reasoned, nodding to Shepard who barely moved his head in a nod, thinking to himself. _I can though, and I won't let people insult my friends, living or not._

"It's nice to see you too," The turian man said, breaking the one-on-one conversation Shepard and Anderson had. "I'm Nihlus, though I'm sure you remember from your report." _Nihlus! That's the name I was thinking of._

"Yes, I remember," Shepard responded, not really lying, but technically he didn't know his name ... at first.

"Then I assume you know why we're going to Eden Prime?" Nihlus asked, folding his arms over his chest and waiting on an answer.

_Shit._ "Uh ... yeah." Shepard gulped and spun up the best answer he could. "Eden Prime is ... being attacked ... by batarians?" Shepard asked, elevating his voice in the form of a question and in doubt.

"Humph ... If he can't even understand a simple mission like this then how's he Spectre material? Maybe I should reconsider this after all." _Spectre? The hell's he talking about._

"Everyone has their bad days, Nihlus. Shepard's a formidable fighter, loyal, dutiful, and a smart individual. He's everything and more that the Council could ask for," Anderson asserted, sticking up for his younger friend.

"Wait ... what are you guys talking about? Spectre? I'm part of the Alliance," Shepard asked them, looking between them with both eyebrows raised and waiting for an answer.

"We didn't call you to this mission just to survey this beautiful planet, and take stock of the flowers. We called you here so I could evaluate you, to see if you're Spectre material," Nihlus interjected before Anderson could respond.

"He's right Shepard. You're the face of humanity. All of our race and even other races look up to you. You're a damn symbol to a lot of people. That's why Nihlus put you up for a Spectre candidacy, and why the Alliance is sending you on this mission. This is humanity's chance to get a foothold in the Council, and establish ourselves as a real power to the universe," Anderson said, smiling at Shepard.

"Wow ... this is a lot to take in. But, I'll of course accept. It's for the Alliance, as much as I'd rather remain 'just Commander Shepard' I suppose this would be beneficial to many people."

"Good, now you're seeing it our way. We just have to beam you down there and you can retrieve a beacon the Council is looking for. Easy-peasy."

"I'd hate to interrupt, but there's something you guys need to see," Joker's voice came in through the ships communications, and a vid popped up on the screen ahead of Anderson, Nihlus, and Shepard.

The three of them turned their attention to it, watching in rapt attention to the things being shown.

It was a soldiers helmet feed, depicting a raging battle, a mostly one-sided battle.

Alliance soldiers were being cut down by a foreign and unknown enemy, hidden from the particular soldier's view. Beams and bullets of blue hitting several soldiers and dropping them in an instant.

The poor frightened soldier was curled up on the grassy and muddy ground of a certain area of Eden Prime, mumbling to himself and crying. "They freakin' killed Church. They freakin' killed him."

"Yeah they did! He lived like a Blue, but he died like a Red, I'll give him that much! We'll sing a song about him later, but right now I need you to pick up a damn gun and fight!" the young man's Sargent yelled at him, shoving a gun down to him, forcing it against his chest. "You'll be next if you don't help us. As much as I'd want you to die Griff, I'd like to keep living myself, so help us!" He grumbled in a typical Drill Sargent voice.

"Oh damn it!" His voice cracked, and he got up to fight, shooting at the pursuing enemy.

_Geth?_ Shepard noticed as he watched the slow pursuing enemy advance on the last remaining soldiers.

"Ash! Where the hell have you been!" the Sargent yelled to a Gunnery Sargent, telling by the ranks on her armor, wearing pink and white.

"Protecting our rear! Those geth won't stop coming through the woods! No matter what we shot at them!" She yelled, taking a sitting position behind cover with the Sarge and soldier Griff.

"That's what she sa-" A black soldier replied, the man whose helmet feed they watched from looked to him, watching him take a bullet to the head which cut off his reply, and fall to the ground.

"Jesus! They killed Tucker!" Griff yelled out.

"Donut! Get him patched up!" the Sarge yelled to a feminine looking man in pure pink armor.

"He's dead! What the hell can I do?" He replied, looking down to the man, blood leaking from his head.

"Give him C3PO damn it! I don't know, keep him alive!"

"CPR? That won't work, he's got a hole through his head and his brain!"

"What the hell is that?" The high-pitched voice of the man whose POV Shepard watched from said, pointing into the sky at an incoming ship.

It looked like a claw, black, purple, sharp, and clouded. Closing in on a certain part of a station on Eden Prime, a shock filled field appearing around it, purple beams of what looked like electricity surged around it.

With that disturbing and mysterious image it cut to static, and Joker paused it from the cockpit, waiting for any further orders. _That was a movie trailer! I mean, damn! I'd watch the hell out of that if it were a movie, much better than the stuff Hollywood comes up with._

"Joker, go back and pause at 38.5," Anderson said, wanting to further examine something. _Wait a minute ... how'd he know it was exactly at 38.5 seconds? He's either a damn machine to be able to keep track of time like that, or he's just really lucky._

Joker turned the vid back to where the large ship could be seen, and Anderson took a step closer to the screen to look at it.

"What are you?" Anderson rhetorically asked the ship, scratching at his chin with a hand.

"It's not geth ... at least it doesn't look it," Shepard said.

"Whatever it is, it's new, and clearly not friendly to humanity," Nihlus said, his mandibles slacked open in awe at the beast of a ship.

"It's probably not friendly to turians either," Shepard said, looking to the turian. "Or asari, or salarians, or krogan, or quarians, or-"

"Yeah, I got it." Nihlus ended Shepard's insulting explanation and looked back up at the screen before Joker turned it off.

"Whatever it is, it's helping the geth with the attack on Eden Prime," Anderson noted, turning back around to look at Shepard. "I want you on the ground Shepard, take a team with you, your pick."

Shepard nodded in reply. "Yes, sir."

"Save anyone you can, but survivors aren't your priority," Anderson commanded of him, hating the words that came out of his own mouth.

"Sir?"

"I'm sorry, John. The beacon is priority, and your shot as a Spectre is counting on it, don't let me down," Captain Anderson commanded of John, holding out a hand for him to shake.

"I understand sir." Shepard took the hand, giving it a firm shake.

Smiling at his friend, Shepard turned in an about face and left the room to start his mission.

* * *

><p>Shepard had chosen a few new people he'd met while on the Normandy, Kaidan and Jenkins. Jenkins was apparently 'itching for action', and Kaidan seemed okay with being picked, quickly grabbing his gear and waiting by the hangar with Shepard and Jenkins. <em>Kaidan's voice sounds a lot like my old Alliance friend, Carth Onasi ... I wonder if they're related somehow? <em>Shepard thought, glancing at the man in question.

"This'll be great! I've never gotten to go on a mission before, and now I get to go on one with _the_ Commander Shepard," Jenkins giddily said, a large grin on his face as he shook with excitement. "I wonder what my family will think when we come in and save the day, I can show you where they live, their house isn't far from here actually," Jenkins said, looking out through the open hanger and scanning the countryside.

"That'll be fine Jenkins, except we need to finish the mission before you start 'Show and Tell' with your family about me. Okay?" Shepard replied, locking his assault rifle into it's place on his back.

"Okay ... I mean." Jenkins stood at attention and saluted Shepard, who quickly gave him back the salute in an annoyed look and let him rest at ease. "Yes, sir!" He smiled after, and moved closer to the edge of the ship.

"Good luck, Shepard," Nihlus said, walking to the edge of the ship with his gun drawn.

"You comin' with us Nihlus?" Jenkins asked looking even more excited to have a Spectre in the group.

"I move faster alone, I'll meet up with you later though. I can feed you information from ahead, keep you guys safe," He said, looking behind to Shepard and giving a positive nod that Shepard returned.

He jumped from the Normandy and down to the surface, leaving the trio alone with their guns all equipped and ready to go.

"Everyone ready?" Shepard asked, looking to Kaidan and Jenkins.

"Yes, sir," The both replied at the same time, though Jenkins' voice was the loudest and most enthusiastic.

"Good, the quicker we get done, the quicker I can kick back and relax," Shepard said, half joking and half serious.

They jumped from the Normandy and landed on a cliff-side.

Their knees bent with the fall, quickly straightening themselves out they looked around the valley-like area they had landed in.

A swampy looking jungle was ahead, with gas-bags hovering around and looking just as ugly as usual. "I got em," Shepard said, walking forward ahead of his team and taking out the gas-bags with his assault rifle.

They exploded after a single shot, pieces of the paper thin skin floated to the green water under them, and they groaned a juicy sound as they left this world.

Kaidan chuckled silently, trying to hide his face with his unarmed hand.

Jenkins looked in shock at Shepard, and then down to the dead gas-bags. "Shepard ... Why'd you do that?" Jenkins asked, looking in horror as he just witnessed Shepard murder the innocent creatures.

"Hey, Shepard. I think I saw some Mockingbirds fly over that mountain if you wanted to kill them too. Oh, and some cute little puppies just scampered through those woods ahead." Kaidan pointed ahead.

Shepard turned to look at his crazy partners, raising an eyebrow at them. "What?" Shepard asked, talking to Kaidan.

"Those things don't hurt anyone. They just float around Eden Prime aimlessly," Kaidan clarified, looking to Jenkins who nodded and looked back to Shepard.

_Oh, damn. That's pretty sad. Thank God PETA disbanded three years ago, or I'd have a serious lawsuit on my hands._ "Oh ... I knew that," Shepard lied, spinning up a story quickly to keep his credibility as a smart soldier in tact, one who knows who his enemies are. "I was just warming up my gun. You see, if you don't get a few good shots off before battle, then you're gun won't be properly broken in, and the first shot will be inaccurate," John reasoned, nodding his head.

Jenkins looking at Shepard, with a bright face, smiling and nodding vigorously, probably taking mental notes from his hero.

"Understand?" Shepard asked the two lesser ranking soldiers.

"Yes, sir!" Jenkins said, hoisting his gun up in the air and standing at attention.

"Understood," Kaidan replied quietly, not buying a word of Shepard's reasoning, and giving him a sly smile.

Shepard sneered at him jokingly and turned around to make his way to their designated path.

"Follow the trail, I suppose," Shepard said, pointing to the smokey field with purple lighting lining the claw like ship. "Sadly for us, the beacon happens to be right around where that monster is."

* * *

><p>Ashley was retreating with her squad right behind her, all of them tiring from the constant running. Kicking up dirt from behind their heels, the stumbled their way from the enemy, panting and sweating.<p>

"I can't keep up much longer!" A man in orange armor yelled in his cracking voice.

"Shut up, Griff! We just got a little further to go!" A Sargent in red armor yelled, running ahead of the group at Ashley's speed. "Ash! How much further till we're safe?" the man asked his superior, taking a quick breath of air afterward.

"We just need to get to some cover and then!" She stopped, thinking of the best way to put it to her squad.

"Then what!" The frilly man in pink armor yelled in his light voice.

Ashley looked to her friend, Sarge, and frowned. He understood.

"Then we have ourselves a final stand! It's the Alamo boys! Let's give em hell!"

"Are we the Mexicans or the Americans?" A man in crimson armor with thick-black-rimmed glasses asked, panting desperately for a reprieve and making it up to the head of the group.

"That's up to you to decide, depending on how well we fight!" He roared back to them, sliding behind a rock with Ashley.

"Everyone, cover!" Ash yelled, pointing at the rocks they hid behind.

The team began their struggle, trading bullets for bullets with the geth, hiding behind cover while they fought.

* * *

><p>"You hear that?" Shepard asked, raising his hand for his soldiers to halt.<p>

"That sounds like shooting," Kaidan so-very-wisely deciphered, looking past the mountain they heard it coming from.

"We need to help them, whoever it is, they're fighting geth. Let's go!" Shepard commanded, running through the path that most likely led to them.

"I'll scout ahead!" Jenkins yelled, running past Shepard and Kaidan.

"Wait, Jenkins, there's no need!" Shepard yelled, catching up to the man as they turned a corner.

He stopped in his tracks and looked to Shepard, wondering why he didn't trust him enough to let him scout ahead.

"We have to stay close, there's enemies out there, we already know that." After Shepard finished speaking, Jenkins smiled and opened his mouth to speak an 'okay.'

Several blue beams of bullets hit Jenkins, the first of which in the head, and the others in his back.

Red liquid splattered against Shepard's face, sprinkling him with his subordinate's blood.

Jenkins fell to the ground, his eyes white and red with blood, his body dead and limp.

Shepard's eyes flashed quickly, seeing things that weren't really there. John saw batarian soldiers running for him, their guns in hand and firing mercilessly. The body of Jenkins was now the body of a woman's, one with short black hair, and a small frame. Despite the real person's identity, it wasn't the looks of Jenkins that reminded Shepard of the black haired girl, but more of the fashion they had died in.

Shepard's eyes narrowed at the advancing batarians, his brow furrowing in anger.

He lifted his assault rifle up, simply walking into the masses of four-eyed brutes. Giving quick bursts of his gun, he dropped alien after alien, with little-to-no regard of his own life.

Only a single batarian was left now, one with blood covering his mouth ... red blood ... human blood.

Shepard screamed at him, a random and meaningless yell, raising his gun to the batarian's four eyes and firing.

He gained sight of his actual surroundings now.

Dead geth drones were broken and sparkling on the grass, several of them lining the path Shepard walked as he killed batarians.

Shepard let out a loud sigh, straightened his posture and rubbed his face of Jenkins' blood.

"Sir," Kaidan called, kneeling down next to Jenkins' body. "He's dead."

"I know," Shepard replied plainly in a monotone voice, looking down to his lifeless body. _I may not have known him long, but he was mine to protect. I was his leader, and I let him die there. I can't protect anyone but myself._ John thought shamefully, breathing a depressed sound. "We'll send someone to get him later. Right now we need to help the survivors," He said, not taking the time to wait for Kaidan, he closed his eyes to get rid of the flashbacks he just had, and ran up the hill and through the forest.

Once he made it out of the light forest, he saw several soldiers hiding behind rocks and shooting at geth.

"Let's go," Shepard said, still feeling the loss of Jenkins in his voice, running down the hill and barreling for the rocks and cover.

Kaidan wasn't far behind him, taking up a spot beside a blue armored soldier.

"Friends!" The blue soldier yelled, smiling at the newcomers.

"Thank God, someone came!" Ashley yelled, not bothering to look at her reinforcements. "We probably would have been toast in another minute or two."

"I like toast," Caboose stated kindly, smiling at Shepard.

"O ... kay," Shepard responded, smiling at the man awkwardly.

"Alright, here's the deal. I need you three to take the left flank," Shepard demanded, looking to the Sargent in red, the man in pink, and the female in pink and white. "And you three to take right," Shepard looked to the men in blue, orange, and crimson armor. "While me and my friend here lay some suppressive fire down. Okay?"

"You young people and your boy-bands ... I've never even heard of _Left Flank_ before. How about we just go left instead, and ambush the enemy?" The Sargent in red suggested, heightening his voice in a cheer at the end.

"That's what flank means," Shepard clarified to the older looking man, who scratched at the stubble on his face.

"How about I give some impressive fire ... I can do impressive," The odd man in blue armor said, his eyes wide and mouth open in a stupid look.

"I said suppressive, not impressive." Shepard groaned, mentally face-palming himself at the squads stupidity.

"I understand sir," The female Chief Gunnery Sergeant said, nodding to Shepard. "I'll take my troop left. Simmons, you lead Griff and Caboose right," She commanded of the man with glasses.

"Why me! Caboose is a better leader than me!" the man in glasses shrieked, frightened at the prospect of actually leading something.

"That's true, I am a pretty good leader." Caboose accepted the command position given to him by the nervous man with glasses, standing tall with pride.

"Fine!" The woman groaned, jumping out from the left of the rocks they hid behind.

Kaidan and Shepard took up positions behind the rocks, mounting their guns tight against the rocks base, firing at the incoming geth.

The team of red and blue mixed soldiers did as they were told, to a surprising quality. They may not have been the ideal soldiers, or a smart troop, but they could get the job done when asked.

They came out from their cover and unloaded into the enemy, a few of them screaming their mix of manly to feminine war cries, though the feminine ones belonged to several of the men instead of the actual woman who remained quiet as she assaulted the enemy.

After an appropriate amount of bullets, Shepard called off the barrage when the geth had been completely destroyed.

"We ... we did it?" the doubting man in orange asked, lowering his gun.

"I can't believe it either," the man in glasses responded in a high-pitched voice.

"Well. It could have been better," the Sargent replied, looking glum at the ground where the dead geth were littered, pursing his lips and shaking his head.

"What do you mean?" the soldier in orange asked.

"Well, for starters, you could have been killed in the fighting," Sarge said, chuckling in a deep tone afterward. "Nah, just kidding, if you died, who would I have to insult all the time?"

"That's really fucking depressing, Sarge."

"If you're all done chatting now, I'd like to get some answers," Shepard said, walking out of the rocky cover and approaching the squad.

"Sorry, sir. Attention!" She yelled to her motley band of misfits.

They filed in line behind her, standing at a sloppy attention, and waiting on their release.

"Your name, soldier?" John asked the woman, who turned and nodded to him.

"Ashley Williams, sir," She said in a confident tone, smiling afterward. "If you'll excuse me, sir?" She asked him to break the formalities, he nodded in response. "You're Commander Shepard?" She asked, looking him up and down.

"That's impossible. Commander Shepard is like ten feet tall, muscled like The Hulk, and has the rage of a krogan," the man in orange said, rolling his eyes at Shepard.

"That's true. I also heard he can crush a dreadnaught's hull with his pinky finger, and shoot laser beams from his eyes," Shepard mocked the man's doubt, and smiled at him.

"Ignore him sir. He doesn't know when to shut up," Ashley Williams cut in, turning around and giving the man in question a stern look, that made him shiver. "What is it you wanted, sir?"

"I wanted to know if you had seen a beacon around here? It's why I was sent down, and I need it quickly, before the geth get it," the Commander picked up the pace of his speaking, knowing time wasn't on his side, he needed to hurry the conversation up.

"You're looking for bacon?" the foolish man in blue asked, licking his lips after he spoke the word.

Ashley didn't even bother responding to his stupid question. "I think it was back there," She said, pointing to a metal platform guarded by geth. _Looks about right. Where there's badies, there's usually something important._

"Thank for the help. Hey, we're ... a soldier short," Shepard gave a half smile to her, mostly in remembrance of his briefly known soldier, Jenkins. "If you wanted to come along, we'd gladly welcome you," John said to her, his voice a hushed tone as he thought back to his former companion, Jenkins.

"I'd be delighted. But, what of my unit?" She asked, looking back to her soldiers.

"They can head up to the Normandy for now, our ship, and collect our fallen comrade on their way," Shepard said, looking to who he thought was the most reliable of the group, the Sargent.

"You can count on me, sir. Come on!" Sarge yelled to his soldiers, walking away with his men, back the way Shepard came.

"Bye-bye," The blue soldier said, waving at Shepard and Kaidan who smiled and waved back.

"He's funny," Kaidan said, still smiling because of the soldier, even after he had left.

"He is," She replied, smiling and staring at her troop as they left. "I'm indebted to you for saving me, and for saving them. They're good people, great soldiers. Though they were just a temporary group assigned to me. I won't have a squad after this."

_Play your cards right and you can join mine._ Shepard thought, not making it audible in case she turned out to be a bad soldier or a weirdo, and counted on him to take her in.

"If that's it, then we should really be moving." Kaidan brought everyone back to the task at hand, pointing to the pathway that was guarded by geth.

"Sure. Sure," Shepard said, leading his team ahead.

* * *

><p>The beacon of course turned out to not be there, and they instead had to go on an even longer journey to get what they wanted.<p>

After dealing with a new type of enemy, one they later clarified to be called husks, they made their way to a camping ground.

The people at the camp, only two survivors, turned out to be moderately helpful. One was crazy, and the other was scared, so their information was shaky.

Though Shepard got a call from Nihlus, as he said before that he would relay information to them on their mission.

"Shepard. You there?" Nihlus voice called.

"Yeah, we're here Nihlus," Shepard responded, stopping in his tracks as he waited for his news.

"I think I've found something ahead, I'm going to check it out."

"Okay, I'll meet up with you soon." Shepard ended the call, and looked to his squad-mates.

"What did he say?" Kaidan asked, taking a scan of the area as he talked, everyone was still wary of their new enemies.

"He's going to check on something I gue-" Shepard was interrupted by a shot echoing through the valley. "Damn. That can't be good," Shepard said concerned, and ran in the direction of the shot.

"What do you think it was?" Ashley asked, jogging along side Shepard and Kaidan.

"I don't know, it sounded like an ice cream truck, but I don't know what it would be doing all the way out here," Shepard mocked playfully and in a sarcastic tone.

Ashley lowered her gaze as they ran, and inched her way away from Shepard, looking sad and like an outcast. "Sorry," She whispered.

"Oh, I was just joking." John laughed, tapping her shoulder with a hand.

She cheered up at that, looking to Shepard smiling, with him smiling back. "Thanks. I wasn't really sure what kind of a Commander you were. One who loved the rules, or one ... one like you," She said cheerfully, stopping their running as they came to a turian's body.

"I like to joke around every once in a while. I'm a nice guy, at least, _I_ think I am," He responded, looking down to the dead turian. "Whelp ... we found Nihlus. Poor bastard,"

A fresh bullet wound in his head leaked blood. His talons twitched because the bullet that they heard shot earlier was buried that deep into his brain and nervous system.

A stirring sound of boxes and crates came from the loading section of the docks.

The trio of soldiers drew their guns, aiming steadily at the boxes. "Come on out, Stupid. If you're going to hide, you really should keep still," Shepard called to whoever hid behind the crates.

The man slowly rose with his hands in the air. "I'm sorry. I don't want any trouble. Just let me go." His eyes were squinted and head pointed away as if they'd shoot him soon.

"Whether we shoot you or not depends on your answer to the next question. What happened to this guy?" Shepard said, jerking his head backward to Nihlus place on the floor.

"He got shot by some other turian. I think ... I think he called him Saren," the man shrugged his shoulders, giving an ugly and fake smile.

"Good enough I suppose. But, why were you hiding? How did you even have time to, especially when it was a surprise attack?" Kaidan asked.

"I uh ... I come here for a quick nap sometimes. It can get really stressful on this job, sometimes I just need a break." He gave another pathetic smile.

"You coward!" Ashley spat out, looking revolted at the man, her head jerked back as she gave his body a once over and shook her head disappointingly. "You're alive because you slack off! That's disgusting!"

"I just need a break sometimes okay! It gets hard here! Really stressful," He whined, doubt in his voice, and some fear.

"He's right, Ashley," Shepard said, catching all three of the others attention.

"What!" Kaidan and Ashley both exclaimed in shock.

"What?" the man asked, looking as confused as Shepard's squad.

"Yeah. Everyone needs a break every once in a while. It's not like it would have mattered, right?" Shepard said, holstering his gun and waving his hand to the man, telling him to come out.

"Yeah, I guess your are right ... I mean, I know exactly what you're talking about," the dockworker said, smiling and giving Ashley and Kaidan a scolding look.

Shepard smiled at the man, wrapping a friendly arm around his back. "I remember this one time. You're going to think this is funny." Shepard chuckled at the joke already, making the man smile and laugh as well.

Ashley and Kaidan were still staring in shock at their Commander, starting to detest his ideals.

"Someone decided to take a break ..." The man waited for the punchline with a huge grin on his face, thinking he'd just made a friend with Commander Shepard. "And an army of batarian pirates attacked Elysium because of it. Killing men, women, old, and young. All because someone thought they deserved a break," Shepard said, his smile fading as he looked disgusted at the man.

"That's not a very funny joke," the lazy man noted, as Shepard had walked him to the edge of the platform. "Where's the punchline?"

Shepard looked down the 20 foot drop, and back to the man. "Here's the punchline," Shepard said, pulling the man to stand on the edge of the platform, gripping his shoulders tight and locking him in place. The man looked at Shepard with twice the fright he had when they had three guns pointed at him.

Shepard raised his fist and bashed it into the man's nose, knocking him down the drop.

He fell back and onto the ground, with a loud thud and a groan from him, Shepard knew he was still alive. "Jesus!" Ashley yelled, both her and Kaidan taking a step away from their leader.

"What?" Shepard asked, looking back to his team. "He wanted a break ... so I broke his nose," A smile found it's way onto his face.

"Is he alive?" Kaidan asked, not daring to get close to the edge with Shepard near.

Shepard shrugged and looked down to the man, who was crawling to his feet. "You okay down there?" Shepard asked, still smiling at his earlier joke.

"Yeah. I think I broke something though ... or somethings," he mumbled, standing to his feet and looking up at his attacker.

"Good. We need you as a witness. You're not going to take a break when you're called to the stands are you? That'd make me considerably angry."

"No, sir," the man whimpered, a hint of crying in his voice.

"Good man. And don't worry about pressing charges. Could you imagine if word got out that you hid behind some crates while your friends and co-workers were murdered around you? I can just see the enraged families of deceased people now, all of them screaming for your head."

He understood the threat, nodding up to Shepard. "I understand."

"That seemed a little ... evil," Kaidan noted, staring oddly in fear at his leader.

"I'm actually over it now. He had it coming," Ashley said, her tone indicating she was telling the truth and now had no problem with Shepard's reaction. "It was actually pretty funny." She smiled at Shepard, who gave a quick one back.

"I guess, but still," Kaidan said, outnumbered by his opposition in the argument.

"I suppose it was a little of an overreaction. But, there's just _something_ about Elysium that gets me all riled up ... I just _do not_ know what it is." Shepard said sarcastically to his squad mate.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," Kaidan said in a quiet tone, as he just remembered what Shepard went through at Elysium, and that it probably wasn't nice to question him about the subject. "Lets just keep moving," Alenko said glumly, walking to the train.

Shepard stared at Kaidan as he walked away, his head low and trudging along as if he'd been demoted by Shepard. John turned to look at Ashley who smiled and nodded at him, completely approving of his harshness to the slacker of a dockworker. "I'm sorry, Kaidan. It's just a touchy subject for me. I shouldn't have hit him ... it wasn't right," Shepard apologized, honestly feeling bad about hitting the lazy man.

"No, it was my fault sir. I shouldn't have questioned you," the Lieutenant said, glancing at Shepard as they walked to the train.

"Then we were both in the wrong. Lets just get this mission done and find out who this Saren guy is."

"Yes sir," They both responded, falling in behind him as they boarded the train.

* * *

><p>The train ride was a long one, after fighting through dozens of geth, they finally arrived at their destination.<p>

They hopped off the train quickly, immediately taking fire from geth above on walkways and bridges. "Down!" Shepard yelled, taking cover behind a capsule like box. _What's this? _Shepard asked himself, looking at the cylinder with green numbers counting down on a screen. "Bomb?" Shepard asked, squinting at the thing that still had a while to go on it's timer. Shepard turned around to see Ashley and Kaidan who were both looking for targets. "Bomb," Shepard said, pointing behind him to the device.

Their eyes widened and they looked among each other.

"I take it you two don't know how to defuse it?" Shepard asked them.

"I can," Kaidan said, crawling over to Shepard and the bomb.

"That would have been good to know ten seconds ago when I said _bomb_. Get it done, quickly," Shepard commanded, switching spots with Kaidan and shooting at the enemy with Ashley.

"Uh ... sir?" Alenko spoke up in a questioning yell through the orchestra of various bullets.

"What!" Shepard yelled back to him.

"I don't think I can disarm it," Kaidan said, looking up in fear at his Commander.

"That's fine. Just put this on it," John said, tossing him several ball-like discs.

"What do they do?" Kaidan asked, inspecting them rather than put them on right away as told.

"It'll delay the timer ... for a good few hours ... until we can get the professionals in here," The Commander said in between spurts of his gun.

Kaidan nodded and slapped a disc on it, watching the timer stop. "It worked!" He yelled out, carrying the other discs with him.

"Good! Where there's one bomb, there's usually more. Unless it's one big-ass bomb." Shepard tapped Ashley on the shoulder, directing her to follow him and Kaidan.

"Yup, you were right!" Kaidan yelled out, throwing a disc onto another bomb.

"Keep it moving, we can get this done in no time now!" Shepard yelled, staying low to the ground and popping up from cover to hit the geth with a few shots.

"Last one!" Kaidan yelled out.

"Last bomb or last disc!" Shepard asked, sliding to new cover with Ashley.

"Last bomb," Kaidan said smiling.

"Good. Get it on! Then we can finish these bastards!"

Kaidan slapped the device onto the bomb, pulling his pistol from it's lock and moving to help Shepard and Ashley.

After a few more bullets the geth were done and gone. They laid in various positions and places along the path, almost all dead and destroyed.

Shepard noticed a single geth out of the bunch, still living and crawling to it's enemies, trying to attack them somehow. It's legs were dismembered and laid behind it as it continued it's miserable crawl to defeat it's enemies.

Shepard walked up to it, his pistol in hand.

He raised it to the thing's head, putting a bullet into it's flashlight eyeball. Shepard lifted his pistol to his lips, blowing once at the barrel of the gun. "Well ... I _geth_ he ran out of time," Shepard said in a deep cinematic voice, as if he was auditioning for a movie trailer voice.

Ashley and Kaidan burst out into laughs, dropping their guns to the ground and nearly falling over.

"I thought you'd like it," Shepard said, nodding happily that they understood and liked his pun.

"We're not laughing at the joke!" Kaidan yelled out, wiping his eyes of tears from laughter.

"Yes we are, we're just laughing at how stupid it was!" Ashley corrected, fumbling with her weapon in hand, struggling to put it back as she laughed.

"Was it really that stupid?" Shepard asked, making them laugh louder.

"It was _the_ absolute worst joke I've ever heard." Ashley's laughter died down as she spoke.

"Fine then. You're both demoted to kitchen duty when we get back on the Normandy," Shepard said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Ashley and Kaidan froze, ending their laughing entirely. "Se-Seriously?" Kaidan asked, looking hurt along with Ashley.

"Nah, I'm just joking," Shepard said, shrugging and walking to a cliff-side where a spire of something rested. "I'll try and work on better one-liners later," He said, smiling at how afraid he made Ashley and Kaidan look with his false demotion of their ranks. "Looks like the beacon," Shepard said, pointing to the tall device and walking down the stairs to join it's location. "Kaidan, go ahead and type up a message to Anderson, tell him we've got the beacon secured. Send him our coordinates as well."

"Yes, sir." Kaidan stopped in his tracks, working on his omni-tool.

Ashley walked up to the beacon, moving close enough to touch, and doing what she shouldn't have. She made contact with it, putting a single finger against it's surface. Ashley lifted up into the air, with a faint glowing field around her that suspended her in the air.

Shepard looked past Kaidan to Ashley. It took him a while to realize what was happening, but when he did, he acted.

He ran past Kaidan, throwing his arms around Ashley's body, pulling her with all of his strength from the beacon's grasp.

He succeeded, dropping her as far from the beacon as he could throw her. The beacon traded a body for a body, now lifting Shepard into the air and poking into his brain.

Images flashed through his head, images of death, despair, loss. He saw ruins of old temples from some long since extinct race. He saw bodies lying in streets, pools of blood in concrete, shattered buildings, burnt trees, and in a balcony stood the master behind it all, laughing into a crowd of prisoners.

Were these visions of the past, present, or future?

Shepard lost consciousness, drowning in the pictures that ran through his head, feeling as if his brain would explode if another thread of memories passed through his broken mind.

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong> So, about that reference to Red vs Blue, if you understood it, if not then they were the band of soldiers. If you thought it was too much, then tell me, I'd like to know ... although there have been similar things in form of wackiness in ME universe, like the biotic volus who tries to help during a mission, Conrad Verner in general, the entire party during the Citadel DLC ... but either way, if you thought it was too much, tell me, and tell me which part in particular. They're not going to show up any more than this chapter, they were just put in as a joke, and won't be in it again anyway.

Thanks for reading!


	3. Admiral of Revenge

"You can only be out for a few minutes, boys!" John heard his mom yell to him from the entrance of their small home.

John spun around with Richard by his side, waving to his mom in the distance. "Kay! See ya mom!" John replied, watching his mom wave from the front of the gray steel house based on a small hill.

"W-w-w-where are we go-go-going, John?" Richard asked, bringing John's attention to the little quarian sprout to his side.

"We're gonna go exploring," John said with a smile to his stuttering brother.

Richard started hoping up and down, his quarian feet like little springs. "That'll be awe-s-s-some!"

"Come on then!" Shepard yelled, running with Richard by his side around the field in front of their home.

"T-tag!" Richard yelled, slapping his hand against John's arm and running in the opposite direction.

"Oh, so we're playing tag now," Shepard murmured and ran after his brother.

Richard's pink suit's cloth was fluttering in around in Earth's wind, like a scarf wrapped around his neck as he ran. Richard was easily faster than Shepard, covering twice the amount of ground Shepard could at their ages, and with twice the endurance. "Ha! You ca-can't ca-ca-catch me!" Richard blurted out as he ran.

"Why are you so fast!" Shepard yelled to his six year old brother as he followed closely behind him.

John watched as Richard disappeared behind a mound in the Earth, with Shepard only halfway up the hill at the time.

"Wait for me, Richard!" John yelled out to his adopted brother.

"We can ask de-de-dezz guys to play wi-wi-wit' us!" Shepard heard Richard's voice yell out to him from the other side of the hill.

Once Shepard had cleared it, and saw before him a beautiful scene; A single maple tree with a triangular outline of red leaves surrounding it's top, a clear and shining water lake forming around the tree with a small gap of land leading to the tree.

He also noted the characters around the tree, the ones Richard mentioned. Robert and his gang of brothers, Roger, and Dale. _Oh no. I can't let them talk to Richard, they'll make fun of his stutter and clothes. They've never said anything mean to him directly before, only to me. I can't let them hurt his feelings._

Shepard kicked in his running as fast as he could, barreling down the incline after Richard who had already made it to the trio of brothers. "F-f-fwiends!" Richard yelled, throwing his arms up and around Robert, he tried to pull him into a hug.

Robert—a much larger and stronger boy than Richard—pushed him away with both of his hands, shoving him to the ground, near the edge of the lake. "Get off me you freak!" Robert yelled in a squeaky voice.

Robert was particularly fat for a boy of nine, chubby cheeks, a pudgy body, and marshmallow fingers. Although, behind all of his fat, was a abnormal amount of muscle to go with his abnormal amount of fat, making him a worthy enemy in a fight who could take a lot of hits before getting winded.

Roger was the next brother, at eight years old, he wasn't anything like Robert. Roger was almost always quiet, and reserved to himself, sometimes mumbling things under his breath.

Dale was the dumbest and youngest of the brothers, at seven years old. He was thin, and small compared to Robert, and usually had a dumbfounded look on his drooling face.

All of the brothers had thin greasy black hair, and poor clothes.

"Don't touch him, Robert!" John yelled as he made it to the scene. Richard was quietly crying on the ground, pulling the pink cloth on him close to his faceplate, as if he could wipe the tears away.

"Or what, punk? You'll hit me? Ha! You would be on the ground in a matter of seconds!" Robert laughed, holding his gut with both hands as he did so. Dale mimicked his brother, and Roger stood the furthest away, mumbling something again.

"I doubt it," Shepard returned. "Looks like you already lost a fight today," John said, pointing to Roberts eyes, blackened and bruised in a purple color, and to his scabbed lip from a cut.

"You shut up! You don't know what I have to go through! I'm strong! My brothers all know it! I take the beatings for them!" He yelled back in a teary scream, tightening his hands into fists.

"Yeah right!" Shepard laughed. "You can't be strong if you've lost a battle!"

"Fine then! Just take your stu-stu-stuttering brother and get the hell outa here!" Robert mocked Richard's voice, pointing at him and laughing.

Dale laughed at the joke for his brother. "Nice one, bro."

That was the last straw for Shepard.

John kicked his feet from the ground they were formerly planted on, toppling Robert and battering his small child's fists at his face.

"Ah! Get 'em offa me!" Robert yelled, looking to his right to his brother Roger.

Roger stepped back awkwardly, looking at the ground and waiting for something to happen, but he wasn't going to help.

"Dale! Get this punk offa me!" He yelled, looking to Dale who obliged right away.

Dale threw his skinny arms on Shepard's shoulders, trying to pull him off.

"Don't touch my bru-bru-bruber!" Richard yelled, tackling Dale to the ground and hitting him just like Shepard hit Robert.

"You suit-rat! Get offa him! I'll kill you!" Robert yelled to Richard in aid of his brother Dale.

Robert mushed his greasy, sausage-like fingers against John's face, pushing him off of him quickly. He stood to the ground, raising a tightened and tense arm in the air to Richard, going to smash it into the back of his head as he attacked Dale.

Robert stopped at the sound of a voice yelling out to him. "Hey! What the fuck you doin' out there boys!" A tall and ugly man called from afar, black thinning hair similar to the brothers'.

"Dad," Was Roger's first word in the conversation as he looked to his older brother.

Richard stopped fighting when he heard the voice as well, and backed away from the trio of trouble-makers.

"Get up, Dale!" Robert yelled to his youngest sibling, locking arms he brought him to his feet. "I will see you two again. I promise you that," He said, pointing his chubby finger to the Shepard brothers.

"Come on now! I need you boys to haul some crates for me!" Their father called, waving his hand to them.

"Yeah, we're coming!" Robert yelled ungratefully to his dad, walking away with his brothers right behind him.

"Good, thought I'd have to wait all fuckin' day! Hurry up you brats!" The dad yelled, raising a drink of something in his hands and pouring it into his mouth. "Come on chubby, run those little hamster legs!" He yelled to Robert, laughing afterward. _I guess I can feel a little sorry for him, because his dad is so mean to him, though I don't know why. _Shepard thought as he watched the family disappear from sight.

"Tha-thanks for your he-he-help, John," Richard said in a happy but stuttering voice to his elder.

"No problem, Rich," Shepard returned the pleased voice and smile he thought Richard gave through his mask. "Now lets rest," John said, plopping down under the shade of the tree.

"I like resting!" Richard yelled, following his brother and idol to the tree and sitting beside him. "That was pretty clo-close huh?" He asked, referring to their fight.

"I suppose, but we came out on top. We're pretty great fighters after all," Shepard said honestly, smiling at his brother who picked at the grass by the tree with his three fingers of a hand.

"I s'pose ..." He whispered.

"What's wrong, Richard?" Shepard asked his brother, holding his hand to stop it from picking at grass.

Richard's gaze directed to his brother, his shining orbs staring at his beloved sibling. "Will I ever de-de-die?" He asked, the sound of his voice breaking indicated he was starting to cry. _What am I supposed to say to that? Everyone dies sometime._ Shepard thought, swallowing hard before he built up an answer.

"Not as long as I'm around. We're a team. I'll keep you safe, buddy." John shoved his brother playfully, hoping to break him of this serious talk.

"Bu-bu-bu-but ... but you di-di-didn't," He whispered and looked away from John.

"What ... what do you mean, Rich?"

"I'm dead, Shepard," He said, turning around to meet his gaze again.

"Richard," John said in a concerned voice.

Shepard now looked at a sixteen year old Richard, in his eighteen year old self. Richard had a hole in his faceplate, cracks branching off of it, and red leaking through the opening. "Richard, no ..." Shepard mumbled with cloudy water glazing over his eyes.

"Who's Richard? I'm just a suit-rat," Richard said, standing up from the grassy field, prompting John to stand with him. John hated that word.

"No! No, Richard, you aren't. You're my brother. Don't let anyone tell you different." Shepard reached a hand out to the bloody sixteen year old quarian.

"I'm not your brother," Richard whispered and fell backwards into the water of the lake, with a loud crashing splash he disappeared in the foamy area of the water.

* * *

><p>When Richard disappeared from the surface, Shepard awoke, bolting up in a bed and in a panicked sweat.<p>

"Thank God!" Ashley exclaimed, rushing to Shepard's side. "Doctor, he's awake!" She called to Chakwas, who rushed to his side with her. "We thought you'd never wake."

"It's good to have you back, Commander," Chakwas said with a smile, turning once she saw he was okay, and finding an ice-pack on a tray of other things. "Here," She said, handing him the package of ice he rushed to his forehead.

"How long was I out?" John asked in a weary and groggy tone, still thinking of his dream.

"Long enough for us to make it to the Citadel," Ashley noted, looking through a wall in the room, where the Citadel docks were behind.

"What! Really? We need to get moving then." Shepard sprang to his feet, tossing the ice-pack on another desk somewhere.

"Commander, it really is best if you get some rest first," Chakwas persisted, walking toward him.

"No, I'll be fine, thank you though doctor." He gave her a nod and slowly made his way out of the room, with Ashely walking with him as he went to see Anderson.

"My team left a while ago, which means I have nowhere to go," She said in an awkward and hinting tone.

"Hmm ... You can stay aboard I suppose, you did good back there, on Eden Prime."

"Good," She scoffed at the word. "I nearly got you killed with my stupidity."

"Well, I forgive your stupidity ... just this once mind you," He said with a faint smile on his lips, pointing down at her with a finger.

"Yes, sir," She said with a smile. "I'll be in the mess if you ever want to talk," She ended, making a right face and walking to take a seat at the crew table.

Shepard heard a beeping sound once from his omni-tool. He looked down to it, seeinga new message. Shepard clicked the message box, opening up a box of orange letters on a lighter orange screen, a message from Anderson.

_Shepard, meet Ambassador Udina and I at his office, we need to talk about the trial against Saren. Alenko and Williams filled me in on most of what happened, but I'd like your side as well. If you need to, take some time to rest, and have a little fun while you're on the Citadel, you deserve it._

Shepard slowly nodded as he read the message, and closed it quickly after finishing. _Sorry, Anderson. No time for rest. I need to get this bastard locked up quickly._ Shepard thought, continuing his walk to leave the Normandy.

* * *

><p>"Ambassador Udina's Office," Shepard read off the nameplate on the side of the large metal and glass windowed doors.<p>

"I hate politicians," Ashley grumbled behind Shepard, standing with her arms folded over each other, beside Kaidan.

"Lets try to keep our biases out of this talk. I'm sure this guy loves to get his ass kissed, but I don't plan on doing that, so just keep quiet so we don't upset him somehow," Shepard said, pressing the button beside the door that opened it.

"Ah, Shepard. I was beginning to wonder if we'd have to join you on the Normandy just to have a talk. I'm glad you could spare some of your valuable time," Udina remarked in an annoyed voice, sitting down at his desk, where Anderson sat across from.

Anderson gave Shepard a nod and smile as he entered with his team.

"So, what is it you have to add about Eden Prime? We just got through with a rather heated conversation with the council ... so I'd love some good news," the Ambassador said with a frown on his old face, probably expecting bad news, or maybe he always looked like that.

"Well, there was this vision I had," Shepard said slowly and pinched his eyes closed as he anticipated the Ambassador's reaction to be upset.

"A dream ... that's all you have? A dream! We need actual evidence, Commander!" Udina barked at Shepard, slamming his fist onto the table once, shaking it's contents of a computer, a tray of food, and data tablets.

"Calm down, Ambassador. This is what we have for now, it is all we have, so we're going with it," Anderson said, sneering at Udina and turning to Shepard to give him a nod.

Shepard returned it firmly.

"Hmm ... the trial will be soon, I suggest you do whatever it is you need, get a drink or something, Shepard. Make it quick." Udina didn't say anything else, instead he looked down to his computer, apparently a sign that they could leave.

"No thank you. I think I'll head straight to the Council, or maybe stop to get some weapon upgrades, but no drinks," Shepard said to Udina, denying the alcohol he was offered, who didn't bother to respond or look up from his work. "Sir." Shepard ended with a smile to Anderson alone, who smiled back at him.

"Have a good time while you can, Shepard," with that last line from Anderson, Shepard turned with Ashley and Kaidan, walking out of the office and into the streets of the Citadel.

* * *

><p>Shepard was leading his team at the point of their marching, ascending the steps to speak with the Council.<p>

He looked up to see three bodies on the other side of a flower pit covered by glass, which blocked him from walking straight up to them, so he stopped with Udina and Anderson on a platform that extended over the pit.

A man with a shaved head, a buzz-cut, gawked at Shepard as he stopped next to Anderson and Udina, watching with rapt attention to whatever it was he was going to do or say.

Ashley and Kaidan stopped behind Shepard, next to the young man who watched the trial start. "That bastard Saren and some geth tried to destroy Eden Prime," Ashley said to the young man, because it wasn't classified and most knew about it happening, but few knew it was Saren they claimed who did it. She only disclosed the information with him because he wore the Alliance standard armor.

"Really?" He asked, staring at the huge hologram of Saren as the people began to argue.

Ashley nodded and listened to the rest of the trial.

"That man saw you kill Nihlus!" Anderson shouted and pointed at Saren.

"Oh, Anderson, why is it every time I'm accused of any wrongdoing it's by your hand? Jealous of something?" Saren said with a hint of a turian smile.

"The beacon gave Shepard a vision, it showed him-" Anderson continued but was cut off.

"Bah! How am I supposed to defend my innocence against dreams?" He asked, looking down to the council.

"I agree, that doesn't give you any edge here," Sparatus, the turian councilor, stated.

"Why? Huh? Why?" Shepard asked Saren directly, referring to the attack on Eden Prime. "Is it because your brother was killed by humans in the First-Contact War?" Shepard asked, shaking his head at him.

"Excuse me?" Saren said in a quiet but offended voice.

"My brother was killed by batarians ... I don't hold it against them. Granted I hold it against those who did it, but not against the entire race. At least not anymore than I already did, because they are mostly pirates and thugs anyway. But it really is quite pathetic of you

"You don't get to mention my brother! You pathetic human! I should have killed you all in the First-Contact War!" Saren spat the words at Shepard. The explosion caught the council's attention, each of them looking up to Saren with different expressions.

Sparatus shook his head in disappointment that their best spectre couldn't control himself or his anger.

Valern, the salarian councilor, dropped his head in a defeated look, knowing this would look bad for Saren, and did give Shepard a slight edge in the trial now that he had threatened him.

Tevos, the asari councilor, smiled at him, but not for him, she smiled for Shepard, thinking what he did was smart and brought out the real side of Saren. She looked down to Shepard now. "I am sorry, Commander. But you still have no real evidence to kick Saren out of the spectres."

"I understand," Shepard said with a smile.

"What the hell was that," Udina growled in a hushed tone at Shepard as the council turned to leave and Saren's picture disappeared.

"It's not like we had anything anyway. We can open up the trial at a later date, when we have more information," Shepard said, walking down the stairs and rolling his eyes at Udina.

"Just where do you think you'll find that information, Commander."

"I don't know. Maybe you could pull some out of your wrinkled ass," Shepard suggested, with a smile and hushed laugh from Kaidan and Ashley.

"That's enough, Shepard," Anderson said, his lips twitching as he tried to hide his grin. Shepard nodded to him in response.

John noticed two turian men ahead, talking or arguing about something. "Things tend to work themselves out," Shepard said with a smile as he heard the two turians mention Saren's name.

"Fine, find whatever you can, and get back to me as quick as possible. Captain," Udina said, calling Anderson to follow him.

"Good luck, Shepard. You might try Harkin, he's usually skulking about at Fist's bar. He might have some information, even though I don't find him very credible, it might help," Anderson said with a smile and an extended hand.

Shepard took his hand and gave it a quick shake. "Thank you, sir. I'll see what I can do," Shepard said with a smile to the father figure he looked up to.

Anderson smiled and followed Udina down the steps to his office.

"Oh, wow ... That's a lot of information to take in," the young man with a buzz-cut said to no one in particular.

"Hmm?" Kaidan asked, and the young man looked up to him.

"Nothing, goodbye," he left with that, rushing out of the hall in a speedy run.

"Okay ..." Ashley said, watching him leave. "He was a little weird," she noted to Kaidan and Shepard as the three were back together and walking down the stairs.

"Nah, he's just a kid with too much on his plate," Kaidan said, watching as the worried young soldier entered the elevator and made his descent.

"Lets go see what's happening up here," Shepard said, pointing to the two turian men he saw arguing.

"But, I'm close to exposing him, I just need a little more time," A turian man pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Garrus. But, you had your time, just drop it, not everything a spectre does is evil or has to go into questioning," the turian man ended the conversation, nodding to Shepard and his allies as he left the turian, Garrus, alone.

"Damn, I just needed a little more time," Garrus whispered as he watched the red and black turian leave.

"Little more time for what?" Shepard asked, gaining his attention.

"Oh, um ... I was investigating the spectre, Saren. I think he's up to something, but no one else shares my paranoia it seems."

"You're not paranoid, he is up to something, I know it as well," John responded.

"Really? You have any evidence against him?" He asked as his eyes lit up with a smile and excitement.

"I'm afraid not, but I'm looking."

"Yes. As am I. I wish you luck. Maybe we could work together to bring this tyrant down, the name's Garrus." the turian held out his hand to Shepard.

"Commander Shepard," he said, taking it and shaking once.

"You humans have odd greeting customs, shaking hands, very strange," he noted, looking down at his own hand.

"We are an odd species. It was nice talking with you Garrus ..." He started.

"Vakarian," Garrus finished with a nod. "Being a C-Sec officer doesn't even get me the right to investigate someone as high up as Saren. Maybe you'll have better luck, Commander," Garrus said with a nod, turning and leaving them alone.

"He seemed nice, for a turian," Ashley said in an ungrateful tone.

"Yes," Shepard agreed. "Now lets go find Harkin, apparently he's getting drunk at a bar somewhere," John commanded, walking ahead to the elevator with his team behind him.

* * *

><p>"Ah ... Fresh Citadel air ..." Diesburg inhaled the smell of the Citadel, smiling to himself as he did so.<p>

"Sir! Sir! Sir!" A young soldier dressed in his Alliance armor and wearing a buzz-cut ran up to Diesburg, waving his arms.

"What! What! What!" Diesburg asked mockingly of the soldiers panicked tone.

"Shepard arrived on the Citadel. He engaged in a trial against Saren," The young man panted out as he tried to catch his breath.

"Really? Damn it," h_e should have died on Eden Prime. Saren promised me he'd be killed there._ "Thank you for the information, return to the ship, private."

"Yes, sir," he let out, limping in a tired and winded way back to the ship they arrived on.

Diesburg picked an earpiece from his pocket, fitting it into and around his ear, and pressing a button on it's round base.

He waited for the call to begin, tapping his foot impatiently and starting to sweat in fear of the upcoming talk he'd have.

His two bodyguards behind him stood at attention, waiting for more orders, until then they stood as still as a statue.

"You idiot!" He heard Saren's voice yell to him from the other end of the mic.

"How am I an idiot. It's your fault for letting him live," Diesburg gave a half-yell half-whisper, covering his mouth with a hand.

"You said the husks could take him out easily!"

"I said it would take one hundred of those zombies to kill him. Why couldn't you take him out yourself. Not strong enough, Saren?" Diesburg asked in a condescending tone.

"Don't you dare insult me!" Saren yelled back, the roaring sound buzzing inside Diesburg's ear.

"Fine. Just shut up. We can still make this work."

"How!"

"I said stop yelling or you can deal with Shepard on your own," Diesburg threatened, and listened to a few seconds of silence and heavy breathing from the other line.

"Fine ... what do you propose?" Saren replied in a regretful tone, hating that he had to treat Diesburg with respect to get his way.

Diesburg smiled at that. "I'll deal with the suit-rat-whore you've been having trouble with. I've already imprisoned several of their female species, claiming that they were stealing from the Alliance, though after a proper amount of ... persuasion, none of them claimed to be Tali'Zorah, or know where she is. You incapacitate Shepard somehow, I want him alive, and brought to me."

Saren started breathing deeper and growling from the other end, but he had no choice, this would most likely work and keep him from being exposed. "Fine. Make sure she dies, I can't let her leak the info she has on me. I'll try to get Shepard alive, I doubt it'll be easy though."

"Good, things are turning up for us, Saren. Goodbye." Diesburg ended, waiting for a 'goodbye' from Saren.

The earpiece turned off as Saren closed the line.

"Pfft ... you ungrateful bastard," Diesburg grumbled, rolling his eyes. "You two," he said to his soldiers who both stepped forward.

"Sir."

"Find that suit-rat. Tali'Zorah is her name. Kill her, quickly, slowly, makes no difference to me, just make sure she's out of the picture."

"Yes, sir," they said in a devilish tone, turning and leaving in the same direction to find the girl.

Landon, and Garth, the personal guard for Diesburg, assigned and paid for by Diesburg, and were by no means working for The Alliance. They were under his pay-roll, and were the furthest thing from squeamish. They were outfitted in a personal garb of thick heavy Alliance armor. They each had a krogan shotgun, which hardly had any kick when in their large arms, like cylinders of pure muscle attached to their grizzled bear bodies.

"There's no way she can fight them off alone," Diesburg said in a pleased whisper. "She's done for." a smile crept onto his face, and he began his walk through the Citadel shops, searching for foodstuffs as he waited on the girls imminent demise. _And when Shepard is in my custody ... I can finally have my revenge._

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong> I'll try to hurry through these boring parts (parts without Tali) as fast as I can. So that's why this one jumped around so easily, from the Normandy, all the way to Udina and then to the Council, just to save on time ... and words. But, it looks like she'll be in next chapter, so your welcome :D


	4. The Evil of Men

"Harkin's supposed to be around here somewhere," Shepard said, peering around the bar.

"How do we know who he is?" Ashley asked.

"Probably the drunkest one," Kaidan replied.

"Or the smuggest looking one," Shepard redefined the answer, seeing a man with his legs kicked up and a drink in his hands, watching some asari dancers twist and contort their bodies around the poles at the bar. He moved forward to meet the man, being stopped by an asari girl.

"Hey handsome," an asari girl dressed in the standard strippers clothing for Chora's Den said, rubbing her pale blue arms across Shepard's chest with a smile on her face. "Wanna follow me back to my place?"

Kaidan and Ashley looked to one another, and stepped back, wondering how Shepard would handle this.

Shepard looked down at her smiling face, biting her lip as she anxiously awaited his answer. A voice ran through Shepard's head, the voice of his brother. _I may be your brother, but she's your girlfriend, and I won't sit by while you treat her like that … I won't watch you consort with whores and strippers while she's away … You can screw any girl you want, just so long as you break it off with Belle first … you understand me! Yes! _Shepard's face lost expression, thinking about his brother, and of his girlfriend, Belle. A feeling of shame and hate came over him, shame and hate for himself.

Shepard shook off the memories and was brought back to the girl in front of him. "Excuse me," Shepard said in disgust at the girl, shoving her arms from him. "Don't touch me."

"Damn, I didn't know you were gay, I just wanted to have a quickie," She replied and gawked at him.

"I'm not, I just have a finer taste in women," he clarified. "And you smell of sweat, booze, and semen anyway." He chuckled after.

"Gah … you ass," she scoffed again, scampering off somewhere else.

"You shouldn't just walk up to people like that, eventually you'll run into someone nasty!" Shepard yelled out to her in some final few words of advice.

"Asari whore," Ashley grumbled.

Shepard looked to her, and then back to the man he thought was Harkin. "Lets go talk with this asshole now."

Shepard, Kaidan, and Ashley all took a seat next to the man.

"Oh, look, drinking buddies," Harkin said to their company. "And one is Commander Shepard, how the hell do you do?"

"Fine, I need an answer from you, Anderson said you might know where a turian named Garrus Vakarain is?"

"Oh, Anderson, how's he? Still taking it in the ass like a bitch from his superiors?" He laughed.

Shepard closed his eyes in hate at the man, opening them again after what felt like a minute and speaking again. "Cut the crap, I just want to know where Garrus is."

"Sure, and I just want to know what your friends twat looks like." He looked to Ashley and gave a wink and laugh.

Ashley sneered at him, as did Kaidan.

Shepard closed his eyes again and laughed quietly.

"Something funny?" Harkin asked.

"No …. but you're a talker, I don't like talkers." Shepard replied, looking back up to the man and waiting for him to say another snide comment, and contemplating whether he could kill him without anyone noticing, or at least give him a hard beating.

"You understand I have the info _you_ want, so _you_ have to answer my little question before I give it up."

"I understand that if anymore words come pouring out of your cunt mouth, I'll smash your face under my heel." Shepard waited on his reply this time, seeing his expression change to that of fear.

"Uh … he was sniffing around that doctor Michel's office last I remember."

"Thank you for your cooperation." Shepard nodded to the man, still holding the look of spite on his face as he got up and walked to the exit with his team.

"Nice job, Shepard. I wish he would have said something else. It would have been cool to see you smash his face in," Ashley said, holding back a smile as much as she could.

"I wanna see him," a krogan grumbled next to Shepard as he was making his way out. "I know he's in there."

The voice stopped him.

"He's not talking to you, Wrex, you'll have to try and collect that bounty some other time," another krogan responded. "We've got you and Robert's gang hounding us to see him, just give us the time to pay off Robert, and then we can pay you off if that's what you want."

"I want the bounty, I don't care if Robert comes in here and takes all of his money, the money I'll get is from the Citadel, for turning him in," Wrex responded.

"What's going on here?" Shepard felt the need to intercede.

"Nothing human, it's none of your business" _Alright then, I'll just leave._ Shepard thought with the krogan Wrex staring at him.

"Fine then," Shepard turned and left without another word to them. "Come on, we don't have time for them anyway."

* * *

><p>Shepard and his team were positioned outside the clinic, ready to breach it if necessary. The voices from inside letting them know Michel wasn't alone.<p>

"And where did you say she went, the quarian?" a booming voice asked from inside the clinic, though it wasn't a yell, just a naturally loud man's voice.

"After I treated her, she said she was going to see Fist about some deal," a french woman said from inside the clinic.

_She's cooperating willingly it sounds like, with whoever she's talking to, maybe it's safe to go in._ Shepard thought, standing from his position, and simply walking inside.

Kaidan and Ashley exchanged glances for a second but soon followed him in.

Shepard saw the doctor Michel and three others, two large human men, and a turian with his gun drawn as if he was guarding her.

"Oh, hello, is there something I can do for you?" she asked Shepard and his team, taking her sight off of the two large Alliance soldiers.

"Thank you for the info, that'll be all," one of the men said to her, nodding and walking past Shepard and his team.

Shepard gave the men long stares as they left, which they returned. _Strange._ Shepard thought, watching the men leave.

"They wanted to know about a quarian?" Shepard asked her, pointing a thumb behind him to the two men.

"They did," she replied. "I told them the same thing I told my friend here." She motioned to Garrus. "She just left after I treated her, saying she was going to meet Fist. And that was it."

"We came all the way from Fist's bar to hear that she's going to Fist …." Shepard said, nodding slowly and annoyed with it. "I guess we're walking back then." Shepard turned with his team, making for the exit after the short talk.

"Commander, I uh … I'd actually like to come with you," the turian, Garrus, said.

"To help us take down Saren?" Shepard asked.

"Yes, this is just a piece to the puzzle. I'd like to be there when he loses everything, I'd like to help you."

Shepard looked to Kaidan, who nodded and pursed his lips. "We could use the help, especially if things get bad. I doubt Fist would just tell us where she'll be and when she'll be there."

Shepard turned to Ashley. She just shrugged.

"Well then … I guess it's decided. You can come with us," Shepard said with a smile. "We really could use the help." He nodded to Garrus, and looked to Michel. "Thank you as well, Michel, for the help," Shepard said to the french doctor, giving her a nod and turning with his team, Garrus now included.

* * *

><p>"His bar is just around this corner," John stated, turning the corner with his team of three others, seeing nothing and no one. "Strange, usually there's a guard posted here."<p>

The walked up the bridge to Chora's Den, seeing the mess that was inside. Ash marks from recent explosions, blood splattered against he walls and pooling on the floor with ruined bodies. The asari strippers were there as well, a bullet hole in each of their heads, with their suits torn off and their naked bodies exposed. _How could this have happened so fast. _Shepard thought. _I wasn't gone for more than thirty minutes._

"They … they raped the women?" Garrus asked, looking to a section of asari bodies, naked and blood covered.

"And then killed them," Shepard said after a long breath. "Lets see if Fist made it." _And if any of the rapists are still here … so I can strangle them with their own guts. Bastards._ Shepard pushed the memories to the back of his head again, memories of his girlfriend, Belle.

They walked through the halls of Fist's bar, until they made it to his room, the door broken open for them to enter.

"Fist?" Shepard called out to anyone in the seemingly empty room.

"Who's there?" a voice spoke up from under the table, Fist's table.

"Fist," Shepard said again, walking over to the table, seeing a shriveling man on the floor, broken legs the cause of his bleeding. "What happened, did Wrex do this?"

"Wrex, God no … this was Robert and his Eclipse mercs, his damn gang."

"Who's Robert, and why'd he do this to you?" _What are you doing Shepard, get to the task at hand, the quarian girl. _"Never mind, where is the quarian girl, the one that was going to meet you?"

"Her, you think I give a fuck where she is or what happens to her, look at me, I'll never walk again."

"You may not care, but I do … and walking will be the least of your problems if you don't tell me where she is," Shepard threatened, hoisting his gun to be in view of Fist.

"Damn, fine … she'll be just outside the bar, in an alley … it's not like my guys will be there to meet her … since they're all dead now." Fist groaned and clutched for his knees desperately. "I should've never taken that loan from Robert, fucking bastard."

"What should we do with him?" Garrus asked. "I mean … we can't just leave him, he has to go to prison." _He was right of course._

"Pick him up, he's coming with us," Shepard ordered Ashely and Garrus, the closest to him to support him as they left. "Come on, quickly."

"Look at what they did to my bar, my men, my girls … after they killed the men, er, slaughtered them … they took the women … and then they took 'em again … finishing them off with a bullet once they were satisfied." _I don't know who this Robert guy is, but if I ever meet him, he's gonna suffer a slow gruesome death for what he did here. _Shepard thought, keeping his gaze high from the ground, trying as best he could to ignore the dead on the bloody floor.

Just as Shepard was turning the corner, he was meet with a large scarred krogan, gun loose in his hands as he scanned the bar floor.

Kaidan and Shepard drew their weapons, aiming them at his motionless body.

"Wrex?" Garrus questioned the man. Shepard also realized it was the krogan, slowly lowering his gun.

"I guess you're here for the bounty?" Shepard asked him, though he still didn't answer.

"Who did this?" He asked in a whisper. "This is bad … even by krogan standards … I sometimes forget that men have the capacity in them to treat women that poorly … pyjaks," he grumbled, tightening his grip on the shotgun he held.

"Guy named Robert, you know him?" Shepard asked.

"No … I think I'd like to meet him though …." He tightened his hands again, nearly shaking the shotgun he held. "You got Fist I see." He nodded to the bloody and broken man.

"How have you been Wrex?" Fist said with a fake smile.

"Can it," Wrex growled to him. "You mind if I turn him in … I've been hunting him down for long enough … I'd like the bounty," Wrex proposed, squinting his lizard's eyes at the man.

"Be my guest, but first we need to find this quarian girl. She should be just around that corner." Shepard pointed ahead, and nodded for Garrus and Ashley to drop Fist.

Fist crumbled to the floor, and laid there still and whining.

"Little thing, nervous hands, mumbles stuff?" Wrex asked about the girl.

"Maybe, I don't know," Shepard replied, shaking his head.

"I saw her just back here, I'll show you." Wrex turned to leave, making sure Fist was still on the floor and not going anywhere as he lead Shepard and his team to the girl.

* * *

><p>John, Kaidan, Ashley, Garrus, and Wrex had all finally found the quarian. She stood in the middle of a red-lit alleyway, fiddling with her fingers in nervousness of something.<p>

"This has to be her. Come on," the Commander ordered, leading his team down the ramp to the quarian, noticing two newcomers enter the alley just as they did, but from across them on the other side of the quarian.

Two large Alliance soldiers, nearly the size of Wrex, their large shotguns drawn and ready in hand.

"Good, reinforcements. Right when we don't need them anymore," Ashley noted and gave an annoyed sigh.

"How'd they know to come here?" Garrus asked, the team nearing the quarian at the same pace the two men did.

"Tali'Zorah," the two large soldiers called out to her, raising their guns to her body. "You're under arrest by order of the Systems Alliance." _Oh shit, hopefully she didn't do anything too bad. I need her for that data she has._

"On what charges!" Shepard yelled out to the men, drawing his own gun and holding it half raised to them. Shepard's team did the same, drawing their guns and making ready for a fight if need be.

They seemed to have just noticed Shepard, one turning his gun to lock onto him. "She was seen stealing ammunition and weaponry from an Alliance ship."

"What!" she yelled out and turned to look at the Commander. "No, I didn't. I've been waiting here for the past few minutes, and haven't been near an Alliance ship since I got here."

"That'll be decided during interrogations, now come with us before we take you by force," one of the soldiers threatened.

"I believe her," Shepard spoke up, drawing the two soldiers sight to him.

"Sir, you can't possibly believe the word of this suit-rat," one of them said, smiling afterward as if they were both friends.

Shepard shut his eyes tight in annoyance, and breathed in a deep and long breath. "I do believe her, now let her go," he commanded. "If she did do something wrong, I can have the human ambassador draw up a pardon for her. I need her and the information she's got. You will let her go."

"Ahh …." the soldier closest to the quarian spit to ground beside her, landing next to her feet, she backed up slightly in response and held her gaze down in shame. "I don't think I will."

Every act of insult to her drove Shepard to more of a rage. His muscles tightened for a brief second, and his eyes twitched. He lowered his assault rifle, walking up to the human man, until he was two feet from him.

"I have some moral qualms with killing humans … but not animals … I'm completely okay with killing animals," Shepard said and gritted his teeth.

"What's that supposed to mean?" one of the soldier's asked in offense.

"You know full well what it means," Shepard returned.

"You lived your life for the Alliance, for humanity …" the tank-of-a-man closest to Shepard said, looking down to him in a frown. "You gonna die for a suit-rat?"

The quarian girl looked up to Shepard in response to the man's question, hoping for help, even hoping for the answer 'yes'.

Shepard gave a single and firm nod before speaking, directing it to the two men in front of him. "Someone is …." Shepard said in response, unblinking and undeterred as he starred into the man's eyes.

The entire hall felt cold for a moment, with a silence broken in, and everyone froze in their position, something would happen soon, and it would be bloody.

The soldiers both rose their shotguns, but didn't reach any target in time.

With a hand, Shepard shoved the barrel of the gun into the air, letting the holder fire shots off accidentally in response to the quick action. Pulling a knife from his belt, Shepard dug it into the side of his large enemy, twisting it underneath the crevice of the two slats of armor he lodged it into.

The human tank cocked his arm back far, and threw it forward for Shepard in a hasty haymaker.

John countered with a fast sidestep, and elbow block, at the same time catching the large arm with his own, locking it in a tight position and twisting until he heard a crack come from inside the man's arm.

The brute growled in pain, taking his other arm and battering it once into John's gut.

With the wind knocked right out of Shepard, he fell to the ground, holding his stomache.

Wrex rushed for the other large man as Shepard was fighting his opponent, locking arms together when he pushed the shotgun from his enemy's hands.

The grizzly bear-of-a-man bared his teeth to Wrex, who in turn did the same and was far more threatening when he did it.

"Help him," Wrex ordered to the three other members of their team, who were standing in awe as Shepard and Wrex single-handedly took on their opponents. "This one's mine!"

Garrus, Kaidan, and Ashley sprung into action, noticing Shepard was losing his current battle, and being flung to the side after a gut punch.

John rose to his feet, coughing hard, though he suppressed it as the large man approached him. John raised both his fists, ready for round two with the brute, though this could be John's last round despite the wounds he dealt the larger man. He noticed movement behind him, the quarian girl, backing up slowly as her fingers fought each other in angst. "Get behind me," John ordered her, not taking his eyes off of the man again.

"No, you're hurt" she replied. "You get behind me."

_Well-well … sassy I see._ He thought with a faint smile on his lips.

She walked in front of him, a shotgun drawn and aimed at the man's chest. "Leave now … you bosh'tet."

"Or what, you little rat cunt? You'll shoot me?" He barked a laugh, slapping his hand against a button on his belt. A red glowing shield plating covered his body, parts hovering over his stomach, chest, shoulders, arms, hands, back, legs, and head. With the suit of neon glowing shield armor on, he leaned closer to Tali, and smiled. "Shoot."

She did as he asked, out of fear, to little effect. The blast from the gun dissolved into the shield of his stomach and chest.

He let out another laugh, swinging his mostly broken arm at her, flinging her out of his way.

With her body out of the way, and knocked into some crates, he was free to take on Shepard.

Shepard groaned with hate for the man, after he flung the girl away, but trying not to get too caught up in the man's disrespect of the quarian, Shepard thought quick on ways to end the beast.

Several guns clicked beside Shepard, with three pairs of footsteps coming to a stop.

The brute and Shepard looked to their side, seeing Garrus, Ash, and Kaidan with weapons raised at the monster.

"Fine!" the man yelled out. "I'll take every one of you on at once!"

He took a step toward the three, and was stopped by the barrage of their bullets. Shredding his armor with their combined efforts, his body jittering with the force, the color of the shield slowly vanishing as it was destroyed.

It ended abruptly, with all three of their respective guns over-heating, they looked down to them in an awkward silence, and then back up to their enemy, who was still very much alive.

"My turn," were his only words as he turned to pick up a crate with both arms, somehow his thought-to-be broken arm had already healed, or just wasn't as injured as Shepard thought. Hurling it at them, and smashing into their bodies, they were out of the fight for now.

John looked to Wrex, who was still struggling with the other man, wrestling one another as they stood there.

The battle was not looking to be in his favor.

"Fists up!" his enemy yelled, walking up to him with his own raised. "I'll not fight a punching bag. I'll fight Commander Shepard."

_My knife._ Shepard thought, noticing it as it was, buried deep into the man's side. _If I can get it back, I can kill him._ He simply thought, raising his fists in preparation, his eyes watching the knife and his opponent both, waiting for the most opportune moment. _It's the only way to kill this monster now._

With that last thought, he saw the man flinch with pain, a squishy gutting sound coming from his back. He reached his hand over his head, pulling from his upper back a blade of quarian make. "You fucking bitch," he growled, turning around to stare down at the girl who had most likely just saved Shepard from a slow painful death. He cocked the bloody quarian knife back, ready to force it into her, even grazing her could leave her near dying.

_She won't die on my account._ Shepard thought, running forward and with a kick to the back of the knee he dropped the large man to the ground. John pried the knife from the man's side, and with all of his strength he slammed it into the man's head, burying it deep within his brain.

His mouth agape and eyes flashing, he slumped to the floor twitching involuntarily as the knife lived inside his nervous system now.

"Thanks," the quarian girl replied to his action.

"No, thank you," he said with a smile and nod.

"And thank … you," Wrex entered the talk, drawing everyone's attention to him. He was finished the other large man, his hands inside the soldier's stomach, ripping him open. Chunks of flesh, organs, and bone fell from the hole in the man. Wrex gave a laugh as he watched the life leave the man, and discarded him to the ground somewhere.

"Well, that was eventful," Garrus said in relief, walking up to Shepard and the quarian.

"Yes it was," Shepard agreed, and looked to the girl. "Are you alright?"

"I am … but are you?" she asked, looking him up and down once.

"Never better … these guys were nothing."

"They were Alliance," Kaidan corrected, walking into the pack with Ashley by his side.

"He's right, the Alliance will want to know why we killed them," Ashley butted in next.

"They tried to kill us, that's reason enough for us to defend ourselves," Shepard said almost annoyed.

The others just nodded in agreement.

"Tali'Zorah?" Shepard questioned for the name of the girl, looking down to her.

She nodded to him. "Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"Nice to meet you, Tali'Zorah nar Rayya," the Commander said, holding out a hand for her to shake.

She looked down to his hand for nearly a minute, just staring, not knowing what to do with it.

"You shake it," Shepard clarified, smiling at her lack of knowledge in human customs.

"Oh, okay …." she took his hand, letting him do the work so she didn't mess it up.

He smiled wide at her again, gently lifting and dropping her hand in a slow shake before tipping his head to her and taking his hand back.

"I had no idea you were such the gentleman, sir," Kaidan said from behind Shepard smiling at him.

Shepard rolled his eyes at him and looked back to Tali. "Come, we can talk and walk," Shepard held a hand on her shoulder with another one pointing ahead.

Ashley noticed the care Shepard took with the quarian, silently she scoffed at it, feeling a pain of annoyance at the girl.

"Ashley, Kaidan, you two should stay behind, get the Alliance to help you clean up this mess and explain for it for us," Shepard said, looking back to the two soldiers as he led the girl ahead with the other aliens.

"Yes, sir," Kaidan said, bringing up an omni-tool to send a message to the closest Alliance patrol stationed on the Citadel.

Ashley on the other hand gawked at the Commander and his crew of aliens, shaking her head at him from afar as he walked with the three aliens. "Yes, sir," she grumbled. "Not even five minutes of knowing her and it looks like he's drooling all over her," Ashley whispered to herself, though Kaidan heard.

"Relax, he just needs to take care of her because she has the information we need, doesn't mean he loves her," Kaidan replied to her scornful remark. "Doesn't mean he hates her either though, you saw how he treated that asari girl ... maybe he just doesn't like to get into relationships."

Ashley just grunted at his speech, and awaited the Alliance soldiers to their position.

* * *

><p>Diesburg sat on his office chair, his legs kicked up and resting on the desk, with a magazine in his hands, labeled 'Fornax Volume IV'.<p>

Scanning through it with rapt attention, and often smirking at the variations of asari and human girls alike, fondling each other with smiling faces. "You dirty girls." Diesburg said with an envious smile, licking the fronts of his teeth with his tongue as he observed the girls.

"Sir, bad news!" Lieutenant Poole said, charging into Diesburg's office without invite.

Diesburg shoved the magazine under his desk as quick as his old hands could move, hiding it from his soldier's view. "Good God man! Have you no sense of common decency? What the hell do you want?" he asked with a light blush on his old face, waiting on his panting soldier to deliver the dreaded news of something he'd no doubt hate to hear.

"Two things. First of all, I've lost the vitals for Landon and Garth," the young man said with haste, rubbing his pale hands against his short brown hair.

"Damn it!" Diesburg yelled, hopping up from his chair, and slamming a hand against the base of his desk. "What else!" he yelled back to the man, still fuming with rage at what was most likely a failed assassination on the quarian's life.

"And the other quarians we detained are missing. The guards … the guards were murdered."

"Murdered," he scoffed, blinking rapidly as he waited for the man to finish.

"I found this on the camera feed," he said, walking up to Diesburg and placing a mechanical tablet in his hands, clicking play on the device.

The scene that started out before him was immediately horrifying. Poole didn't give him any time to waste with the footage, skipping straight to the bloody and gore-filled part.

A quarian man, dressed in white cloths and silver metals, with a blackened visor loomed over several of Diesburg's soldiers. Blood covering their faces from what could have been days of torture, but was only from a few minutes of rapid and non-stop beating that occurred off camera.

"Are the prisoners gone?" the man in white asked, the man who was most likely the leader of the small band of quarians who stood around him.

"Yes sir," another quarian man replied. "They've been safely escorted back to the wards, they'll be fine."

"Good," the leader replied back in a cool tone.

"You fucking rats," a human soldier kneeling with three others said in a grumble. "The geth should have exterminated your hides long ago."

The leader turned from looking to his own quarian soldier to the human one. He shook his head, and lifted his gun from it's position on his suit, unfolding it to threaten the man into silence.

"Oh, big tough-guy, huh? Gonna kill me for mouthin' off?" he said distressed, no longer taking a stronger tone with the man.

"I wasn't going to but you kinda talked me into it," he said, nodding to the man. He lifted the gun to his head, and fired, sending the man's body backwards to the ground in a bloody mess.

"Jesus," Diesburg muttered as he watched the execution take place.

"And then they kill the others, and stuff actual rats into their mouths." Poole finished, taking the tablet back from Diesburg's hands.

"Do we know if the quarian was killed as well during the fighting?" the Admiral asked one of his more loyal men.

"No, I could head down there and find out for sure."

"Yes, do that … quickly." Diesburg pointed to the door, and watched his Lieutenant leave him in peace, rushing for the alleyway the quarian was thought to be at last. "I hate those rats."

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong> Yeah! Tali's here! And a new character is mentioned (the quarian guy), whether he's important or not is yet to be seen. Thank you for reading, hope you liked it, and sorry for posting so late, hard to get this one just right … I think it was the fight scene that slowed me down the most.


	5. Instrument of Destruction

_I don't even know why I'm going with him … all he said was to follow him, and I didn't even ask any questions. There's just something about him that makes me feel safe … Is that weird? No, he saved my life, I should be trusting of him. _Tali thought while staring at her savior, walking beside her, his hand resting on his holstered pistol, ready to whip it out if duty called, in defense of himself or her.

John noticed her increasingly long stare, and gave her a quick glance.

Her eyesight found the floor, hiding herself from his eyes. _You silly girl, now he thinks you're weird._ Tali scolded herself, pressing her teeth tight against each other, grinding them together.

"I'm sorry, I haven't really explained myself, have I?" Shepard started, staring ahead as he and his team made their way through large halls and alleys.

"No, you haven't," Tali returned with a smile, hidden behind her mask.

"Well, for starters, I'm Commander Shepard. I think I already said that ..." He looked down to her as he walked. "Ring any bells?"

"I don't have any bells with me," she replied, looking left and right for the bells he asked for.

His lips broke into a sharp smile, though he tried to hide it with his hand, covering it over his mouth and stroking at the bronze hair on his chin.

"Have I said something amusing?" she asked, cocking her head to the side, only making him smile larger somehow.

"You're amusing," he replied through his smiling face.

_He thinks I'm amusing._ Tali thought, growing a small smile on her lips, and fluttering her eyes beneath her mask. _Does that mean he likes me? Wait, why would he like me? I'm just some quarian girl he just met. Besides, he probably already has a bond-mate._

"Anyway," Shepard broke the small moment of silence. "I assumed you'd allow us the vid on Saren, to use in hopes of bringing him down?"

"Of course, you saved me back there-" she was interrupted by him in haste.

"You saved me I recall."

"Well, if you hadn't saved me first, then I couldn't have saved you afterward." She nodded at him.

"Alright, you win. I saved you." He smiled again.

_He looks so sweet when he smiles._

"Where'd Wrex go, Garrus?" the Commander asked, looking back to his turian ally.

"Think he went back to pick up Fist," Garrus responded and looked back to the direction of Fist's Bar, through the walls.

"Just the three of us then," Shepard said, looking straight again, and walking to his destination, wherever that might be.

* * *

><p>Poole, the lieutenant for Admiral Diesburg, stumbled past crowd after crowd, hurrying to the scene of the crime he was commanded to attend.<p>

Ahead of him, he saw red light from a new alley, and heard voices echoing through the halls.

Panting, and out of breath, he finally came to a stop when he rounded the corner, seeing a mass of Alliance soldiers, gathered around a certain point.

Standing on the tips of his toes, Poole tried to see what the dozen of soldiers looked down at. He could not see from here.

Walking up to the scene, he was stopped by two Alliance personnel, one male, the other female.

"Hold on, you can't come any further," a lieutenant said, holding his hand out to stop Poole.

"I was sent here to investigate, what the hell happened down here?" Poole said, looking to the two Alliance marines.

"Some giant Alliance soldiers attacked Commander Shepard, we dispatched them quickly though," the female stated.

"And what of any others … was anyone else killed in the fighting?" he asked, vaguely hinting at the quarian girl, hoping she had been killed, and the data destroyed in the fighting.

"No one important," the woman responded.

"Hey, you, Alenko, get over here!" a different soldier called from the area of the dead giants, waving him over.

"Yes, sir," the soldier, Alenko, responded, jogging to his position.

"No quarian was killed here?" Poole asked the woman, now that the man had departed.

The woman gave a single chuckle. "Yeah." Then muttering something under her breath.

"Wait, so she _was _killed here?" Poole questioned in haste, leaning closer in to her.

She stopped for a moment, and just stared through him, thinking hard on something. "I don't recall saying the quarian was a woman …."

Poole's heart skipped a beat, he knew he was close to being found out. "Ah, thank you for the information. You're a great soldier to have taken down those giants, keep up the good work." He gave her a nod, and she returned a smile, in response to his flattery of her military and fighting skills.

Poole turned and broke into a quick walk, making for Diesburg's office again, to bring him the good news of the quarian's demise.

* * *

><p><em>That was a weird confrontation. <em>Ashley thought, watching the man speed away. _He was kinda cute though. Handsome face, soft blue eyes, long black hair. _

"Williams, get over here!" an officer yelled to her, breaking her of the dreamy trance she was in.

"Yes, sir."

Ashley approached the kneeling body of Kaidan, and the officer who called to her, as well as the soldiers gathered around them.

Kaidan was hovering his hand over one of the large men's torsos, which now had no armor piece on it.

"What's wrong?" Ash asked and knelt down next to Kaidan.

"Check it out," Kaidan said, pointing down to the man's chest, in the middle.

Ashley squinted her eyes down at the patch of ink on the man's Sternum. "Cerberus?" She asked, seeing the insignia of the famed terrorist organization, it's orange and black ink stuck to the man's chest.

"Yes, it's a good thing you killed them when you did, else they try and attack the Alliance in some other way. In fact, their objective might have been to kill the Commander, as another act of their terrorist acts," the officer said, patting Ashley on the back once. "Good job, soldiers."

"I didn't think Cerberus tattooed their design onto their soldiers," Kaidan said, still staring at the ink on the man's chest.

"Neither did I, but I suppose some think it looks good on them," the officer said in disgust, typing something into his omni-tool. "You can leave now, thank you for your work."

Kaidan and Ashley stood up, stared at one another for a second, and walked away, in pursuit of the Commander, to deliver him the news of Cerberus involvement.

"Maybe it's just coincidence. Maybe they used to be Cerberus but went to Alliance later," Kaidan reasoned, whispering the words to the woman that walked next to him.

"Maybe … I mean, the only reason they wanted the quarian was because she committed some crime," Ash replied.

"You don't seriously believe that, do you?"

"Of course I do, just because the stereotype says that people blame them for most crimes, doesn't mean it's impossible for them to ever actually commit one," she said, almost annoyed.

"Well, the Commander trusts her, so we should too."

"Humph," she groaned, shaking her head, still annoyed.

* * *

><p>"Here we are, Udina's office," Shepard said, tapping the nameplate next to the door.<p>

"I've never spoken to a human ambassador before," Tali whispered.

"You speak to many ambassadors?" Garrus asked.

"Well, no … none," she responded.

"This one's kind of an asshole, so don't base your opinion of humanity off of him," Shepard said, pushing the button to open the door.

"Shepard, I trust you have good news," Udina said upon John's entry.

"I do, Miss Zorah?" Shepard turned to look at Tali, asking her to deliver the news for him.

"Oh, um … yes, there's this audio file of Saren, and someone else. I extracted from a geth, just before it was completely destroyed, and took it's memory with it." She pulled a device from a pocket on her suit, pressing a button on it.

"Must have taken some skill to get it just before it died, usually they wipe their memory in less than a second upon destruction," Shepard said, admiring her tech skills.

"It was easy," Tali simply responded, blushing beneath her mask at Shepard's compliment.

"Shut up, shut up, it's starting," Udina sputtered out.

Shepard turned his head at him, giving him an evil stare, one Udina didn't seem to notice.

"The beacon has brought us one step closer to our objective," a voice stated, Saren's voice.

"And to the returning of the reapers," a female voice stated, one no one seemed to know who's body it belonged to.

"Eden Prime was the first, soon all of humanity will bend or break to my will," Saren finished, and the audio file ended after the short three line talk.

"There's no doubt about it, that's Saren," Anderson stated, who was standing next to Udina by his desk.

"Yes, this is just what we needed." The Ambassador rasped his fingers against each other, smiling to himself. "We should make for the council immediately, I'll set up another date for the trial." Udina immediately began typing into the computer on his desk.

"And what of us?" Shepard asked, looking back to Garrus and Tali.

"You can head for the trial now if you wish, the council doesn't have anything going on as of now. Or, you can lurk around the Citadel for a while, do whatever it is you do." Udina waved him off with a hand.

"Not even a thank you?" Shepard asked lightheartedly, smiling back at Tali and Garrus.

"For who, you? You're doing your job, a bit lackluster at it, but you're doing it. And the quarian, all she did was push a button," Udina replied.

"The quarian has a name." Shepard narrowed his eyes at Udina.

"She does, as do all the rest of her kind, though none of them matter to me. If that'll be all, you and the quarian can take your leave." Udina shook his head and continued typing into the computer.

Anderson looked over to him, sneering at him along with Shepard.

"Don't say that again," Shepard growled out an evil deadly sound.

"Say what? _Quarian_?" he asked, seeing Shepard tense at the use of the word.

Tali approached Shepard from out of his sight, resting a hand on his arm, easing him and drawing his attention to her. "I'd like to go now, the faster we get to the council the faster Saren loses his spectre status."

Shepard twitched a smile on his face, and nodded to her. He turned around, nodding to Garrus as well, and making for the exit.

"Oh, and by-the-way, it was nice talking to you Ambassador Ulina," Tali said in a mock and spiteful tone.

"It's Udina," he grumbled.

"Whatever you say Jerry," Tali mocked again, smiling beneath her mask.

Shepard and Garrus shared a quiet laugh, turning the corner in the halls, out of Udina's sight. They heard him flaming in anger though, breathing heavier and sighing of anger and relief when the had gone.

"I think insulting him gave me more joy than hitting him would have," Shepard said, keeping the large smile on his face.

"You were right, he is a bosh'tet," Tali'Zorah said, walking along with her two companions to the Council, for what would be their final meeting to finish Saren.

"Bosh'tet, is that a quarian thing?" Shepard asked, slowly losing the smile, and soon forgetting about Udina.

"It is," she responded. "You haven't met many quarians, I take it?"

"No, not really … I mean, I had a brother … adopted … he was quarian," Shepard replied slowly, wondering where the conversation would go now that he brought up Richard.

"Really? Wow, how'd that happen?" she asked.

"It's a long story, I might be able to tell it sometime, but now I'd like to focus on you. What's life on the flotilla like? Pilgrimage? What's expected of you? I know only a little about your race."

_Wow, no one usually asks that. No one usually cares to. _Tali thought, and quickly spun up an answer. "Well, you at least know what they are. Pilgrimage is where quarian youth are sent away from the Migrant Fleet, in hope of finding something useful for their race, and proving they're worth their weight. I'm currently on mine."

Shepard nodded slowly, taking in the information.

"And about life on the Migrant Fleet … any quarian admiral waiting on your return?"

"Yes." She noticed Shepard's face change, a blank look now taking him. _Was it something I said?_ "My father, Admiral Zorah."

He looked to her and smiled. "I see, does that make you … a princess or something?"

She laughed. "No, I'm just a regular quarian, nothing special about me."

"I disagree, you seem to have a certain taste and skill for tech, and engineering no doubt."

"I suppose, I was always very good with subjects such as those."

"Anything else I need to know about quarians?" he asked, seeing the elevator to the Council's hall up ahead.

"Well … there's a few things."

* * *

><p><em>I better buzz in this time.<em> Poole thought, pushing the button next to Diesburg's door. _Hopefully he's not getting off to more asari pictures again. _"Sir, it's Poole, I have news."

"Come in," Diesburg said and buzzed him in.

Poole opened the door, walking into the small office Diesburg had rented for use while on the Citadel.

"The girl, is she dead, and the data gone?" he asked without heistation.

"It looks like it, I asked a soldier, and she said yes."

"Good, and what of our soldiers … dead?"

"Yes, sir. They were already surrounded by Alliance for investiagtion," Poole responded.

"Hmm … There's nothing we can do about it now, I need to call The Illusive Man, give me a second and I'll patch him through," Diesburg said, putting an ear piece to his ear.

After a moment of buzzing the line cleared and a calm voice was heard through the other end. "What is it Admiral?" the voice was that of The Illusive Man.

"Oh, nothing, just thought I'd call to check up on you. How's your day been, you catch the latest episode of Mr. Alliance?" Diesburg sarcastically talked to the famed leader of Cerberus, nodding his head back and forth as he spoke.

"Cut the small talk, what is it?" TIM demanded an answer before he ended the call.

"Oh, nothing big … just thought I'd let you know," Diesburg began, and started to raise his voice, "that those genetically modified and enhanced bitches you gave me didn't do jack-shit!" Diesburg stood from his chair, and began pacing back and forth from his desk to a window.

"Excuse me?"

"They literally bent themselves over a fucking desk, and let Commander fucking Shepard spank them to death with his fucking disco-stick!" Diesburg roared through to his boss, without care of any repercussions.

"You need to calm yourself, Admiral," The Illusive Man replied to his rant in a cool tone.

"No, fuck you! You guaranteed me those freaks-of-nature could kill a fucking thresher maw … but they couldn't even kill that fucking suit-rat whore, without getting killed themselves!"

"You-" TIM started.

"I've worked for you for five years, and this is how I'm treated, I won't stand for it! Five years I've handed information over to you! Five years I've allowed you access to my dreadnaught and station! Five years! I deserve more from this deal!" Diesburg took a gasp of breath once he finished his rant.

"Good thing these walls are soundproof," Poole said with a smile, pointing a thumb over his shoulder to the wall behind him.

Diesburg waited for an answer, breathing heavily into the mic. "I understand your outrage, Admiral. I have an agent of mine in the area, I'll contact him, and have him send you monetary incentives as recompense and soldiers to bolster your efforts against Shepard, since you seem to hate him so much."

Diesburg fluttered his eyes in astonishment. "Uh … thank you, sir." He cleared his throat after an awkward silence.

"Good day to you, Admiral. My operative will meet you at the following location, I'll send the coordinates to you." TIM cut off the transmission, ending the call, and leaving Diesburg and Poole to a silence.

"Things are starting to look up, after all," Diesburg said with a smile, feasting his eyes upon the coordinates that popped up on his computer screen. "It says we're to meet this … Booth, his operative, in two days time. I can wait that long to kill that cunt Shepard," Diesburg said, and gave a light chuckle. "I'm going out for a walk." Diesburg tipped his head to his lieutenant and made his way out of his room, walking down the hall and in route to the Citadel shops.

* * *

><p>"This evidence is irrefutable. Saren will be stripped of any relation to us, his spectre status erased," the turian councilor stated, shaking his head at the floor in hate for the member of his race.<p>

"Indeed, this is most well to have this news brought to us, we thank you for bringing it to our attention, Commander," the asari councilor said, nodding to Shepard from afar.

"I'm glad we're finally being treated like equals," Udina said with a hint of spite to the councilors.

"But what of the reapers they talk about, in the tape?" Shepard spoke up.

"It sounded like Benezia talking of that, an asari matriarch, she will make a powerful ally to Saren," the asari said.

"I doubt she knew what she was talking about, she's just an old bat who's lost her way," the salarian councilor said.

"Something must be done about them though, right? We can't just leave them to pillage planet after planet with their geth army," Anderson said, elevating his voice to a near yell.

"The geth will do as they have always done, just because Saren is hiding behind them doesn't make them anymore powerful than they were before. They're just a collection of metal scrap, nothing to be afraid of," the turian said.

"Then at least allow me to go after him, and stop this before it gets worse." Shepard stepped forward, from the spot where he stood with Tali and Garrus.

Udina nodded. "Yes, his spectre candidacy."

The councilors looked to each other, sharing glances, and all noding.

"You have proven yourself this time, Commander. Are you sure you want this? Spectres are an elite band of operatives, sworn to the Council, of course you can still hold to the Alliance, but being a spectre will split your duties," the asari councilor said, stepping forward slightly, ahead of her colleagues.

"I am sure." Shepard nodded.

"Very well, then by our powers as the heads of the Council, we charge you to bring the false spectre, Saren, to justice," the asari stated.

"Spectre's are not trained, but chosen, they come from extraordinary backgrounds, and are the hands of the Council," the turian said as an announcement, gaining the attention of several strangers, all of who watched from a distance, witnessing history in the making.

The asari took her turn to speak, "Spectre's are a symbol, of courage, devotion, and leadership. They are instruments of our will." Shepard looked around to his left and then right, and noticed many different races looking on at him

The salarian started next, "Spectres bear a great burden, they are keepers of peace, enforcers of justice, the first and last line of defense for the Council." With that last line, they councilors each pressed something in to a key pad in front of them, maybe it was to officially admit him.

"You are the first human Spectre Commander, this is a great accomplishment for your entire race," the asari said, nodding to Shepard.

He couldn't help but swell with a touch of pride, to be the first of anything was an accomplishment, but to be the first human spectre, this was important to him and everyone around.

The councilors dispersed, walking back and out of sight, through to different halls on their side of the room.

Tali's eyes looked wider and brighter than usual as she stared at Shepard walking closer to her. "You're a spectre now?" she asked.

Shepard shook his head. "Doesn't feel like it, I still feel like Commander Shepard," he said, patting down his body to feel a change.

"Still … you walked in here a human, and now are coming out a spectre. It must feel good," Garrus said.

"I suppose." Shepard nodded.

"You'll make a fine spectre, Shepard," Anderson said, joining John and his team. "You should take some time to yourself, before your off on another long mission. Maybe you and your friends here can grab a bite to eat somewhere, before you leave them."

_Leave them? _Shepard questioned in his head.

"We can't go with him?" Tali asked, stepping closer to Shepard and Anderson.

"I thought you both might want to do your own thing … I don't suppose there's a law against aliens being on the Normandy, but you won't be able to receive pay from the Alliance, I hope you understand that?" Anderson asked, tilting his head to the girl and turian.

_Richard never got paid either, and he was treated the worst on Elysium. I'll make sure they're trated better. _Shepard thought.

"We do," they both seemed to reply at the same time.

"Very well then … Shepard." Anderson tipped his head in a bow to Shepard, and walked off, back to the Normandy.

"So, you guys want to do something? I still don't know much about either of you, this can be our chance to trade stories," Shepard said, looking between Tali and Garrus.

"Sounds great to me," Tali said, all too happy.

Garrus nodded and gave a turian smile. "There's a restaurant we could eat at, I usually eat there with friends anyway."

"Sound good to me," John said with a smile, leading the way out of the Council's hall with Tali and Garrus close behind.

* * *

><p><em>Getting another call.<em> Diesburg thought, hearing the light buzzing sound in his ear.

He lifted a finger, pressing the end of the piece, and hearing a turian voice come through. "You fool!" He heard a roar from the other side, knowing it was Saren.

He spammed his finger against the volume tab on his mic, silencing it to the point it sounded as if Saren was just talking in a regular tone. "What?" he asked.

"The quarian lived, she leaked the info on me, I'm ruined, you fool."

"What?" Diesburg asked again rhetorically, thinking on why Poole would have lied, but realizing it must have just been bad intel.

"I'm giving you one last chance, if you mess something up again then our partnership is over, you understand me?" Saren asked.

"If I recall correctly, it was you that messed up the last hit on Shepard. You failed to kill him on Eden Prime, leading to my failure here, so who is really to blame?" Diesburg hurried away from any open ears around the shops, rushing to a quiet and darker area he had to himself.

"Just know, the next time you mess this up, I won't bother contacting you again. In fact, you're lucky I can't call my assassin off of Shepard; if I could, I'd consider sending him after your unlucky ass."

"How very mature of you, if that is all, then goodbye. I'll speak to you again if I find another way to clean up your mess for you, you ungrateful bastard." Diesburg cut off the call, the last thing he heard was the yell of Saren through the other line, ending it short and sighing with stress.

"You don't need him to get rid of Shepard." Diesburg heard a humming voice from behind him.

Quickly spinning around to meet the source, he found nothing. _What the hell?_

"He killed your son, he must pay." He heard it again, and turned around the same as before, only to find nothing just as before.

"Who said that?" he asked aloud.

"I did," the same voice replied.

"Who are you?" he asked again, nearly yelling it.

"Shepard is a problem for both of us, he is evil, pure and utter evil. He must be stopped, and you are the only one who can stop him."

"I know, but how can I stop him?" he asked, looking up to the space around the Citadel, ships littering it's area.

"That is simple … get the money from Cerberus, hire your assassin's, and end the problem. Cerberus is your last hope, our last hope to end Shepard."

_But why, why do you want to help me? Why are you telling me this? _This time Diesburg asked in thought, on accident, and still received an answer.

"Because you deserve it, and Shepard deserves death … he killed your son … he must pay. He is a servant of the devil, he would be my undoing, you will be my instrument, the instrument of his destruction."

_You can hear my thoughts? Am I going crazy? _He asked himself.

"No, you are being enlightened. You are not crazy."

_Who are you?_ Diesburg asked one last time, thinking he already knew the answer.

"You are a religious man, Diesburg … You know who I am."

Diesburg gasped a light breath of air, his eyes bouncing around the shops, coming to a revelation in his mind. He gulped a shot of saliva down his throat, and whispered the name. "God …."

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong> thanks for reading, hope you liked it.


	6. The Assassin

"So this is the bar you mentioned?" Shepard asked Garrus, looking above the entrance to the bar, large glowing letters labeled: Ford's Foodery

"That's the one. Me and my C-Sec buddies come here for drinks every so often," Garrus replied.

Through the arched doorway, was a circular bar station, tended to by a few patrons and being being occupied by merry bands of people. Circular tables all near filled with occupants. Based on a plaza, with a large open view of the rest of the Citadel, overlooking the fountains and other buildings from a high point. Alien looking and common human plants were the décor of the eatery, along with rugs, shining glassware, silverware, and small stations with televisions to watch various programs—mostly news programs, sporting events, or commercial advertisement.

"Keelah, this place is amazing," Tali said in awe.

"Indeed it is," Shepard started. "You guys go ahead and pick us out a seat, I'll order some drinks."

"Okay." Garrus nodded.

"See you soon," Tali said, walking off with Garrus to find an empty table.

_I'm glad they're coming with me on this mission. They seem like good people._ Shepard thought, smiling at the turian and quarian who made their leave away from him.

John turned and headed for the bar area, maneuvering around crowds of merry people, finally reaching the bartender's workstation and rasping his fingers against the tabletop.

"Hey," Shepard called to the closest worker he could find.

A turian man holding a newly cleaned glass cup turned to meet Shepard's eyes.

"I'll take …" Shepard stopped to think on the order. _Does Tali even want alcohol? Can she even drink it, with her weak immune system, can she safely drink anything? Is she even old enough to have it? _He asked himself, grudgingly coming to a decision, hoping it would please her and Garrus. "Just get me three soft-drinks." Shepard shrugged and looked back to the man.

"Soft-drinks … you providing for a kid's birthday party?" the turian asked and gave a sharp alien smile.

Shepard smiled at the man. "No, just don't plan on getting too wild."

"Ah, I understand, this isn't The Rock after all."

"The Rock?" Shepard questioned.

"Yeah, it's some seedy bar, for gang types … not the place for the wealthy or the faint-of-heart," he said, pouring the three drinks for Shepard, the tops fizzing while the soda poured inside.

"Hmm … sounds nasty," Shepard simply stated.

"Indeed it is. Robert's gang runs the joint. Which means you better be packing if you want to come out alive … especially if your female."

Shepard sighed with putrid hate for the gang. "I keep hearing of that gang, and what they do … are they a big problem on the Citadel?" Shepard asked.

"For the most part they are … but if you steer clear of them and their lair—wherever that might be—then you should be fine. It's not like C-Sec is going to bother taking them out, considering they have the backing of Eclipse, being a big chunk of their power … and considering C-Sec doesn't have any actually evidence that Robert or his gang has actually raped, or killed anyone … so they get to roam around and continue their killing … it's disgusting." He finished, shaking his head in hate.

Shepard shared the feeling of hate with him. _I've said it already, and I'll say it again; If I find that Robert, I'll beat him to a pulp, and strangle him with his own guts._ Shepard thought, repressing more memories of his past before they had time to even surface. He shook his head and looked back to the turian. "Thanks for the heads up." Shepard nodded to the man, who handed him over the drinks.

* * *

><p>Tali sat at the table with Garrus across from her, both of the aliens waiting patiently for their leader to arrive with their drinks.<p>

Tali was kicking her feet freely around under the table, rocking back and forth on the chair she sat on, listening to the instrumental music that played from the nearest TV. She got lost in the music, humming along with the loudest of the beats and strums, nearly blocking out any other sounds around her.

Garrus was staring over the guard rail they sat next to, peering at the buildings the bar looked over, searching for something.

Tali noticed his intent stare, and stopped her humming. "What do you see?" She asked.

"Nothing … I thought … I thought I saw a flash from over on that building. Looks like it was nothing though," he slowly pulled his gaze from the other buildings, looking to Tali, who had her elbows resting on the table as she waited for the drinks and her Commander to arrive.

"Hmm," she hummed in response.

Tali noticed Shepard progressing toward her, three drinks with him, on a silver platter.

She gave him a smile, one that would be impossible for him to see behind her mask.

"Got us some drinks," Shepard stated, placing the tray on the center of the rounded table, and taking a seat next to Tali.

Tali smiled as Shepard decided to sit next to her, and scooted to make room for him gladly.

"Pops?" Garrus asked, looking down at the fizzing drinks.

"Sure, didn't know if you guys drank alcohol or not," Shepard returned.

Garrus picked the glass up with his talons, swishing the liquid around a couple times, and sipping on it with his jagged turian mouth.

"The best dextro brew I could order, the most expensive to," Shepard said, nodding down to the two dextro drinks, beside his green colored one. "Do you need to … take off part of your mask to drink?" Shepard asked Tali.

"I uh … I just need an emergency induction port," she picked up the drink, eying the liquid inside.

John raised a brow to her, and gave a strange smile. "Emergency induction port?"

"Yes … why, you don't have any with you?" She asked, completely serious.

"You mean … a straw?" he squinted at her, plucking said straw from a cup next to him on the table.

"A … straw … hmm … a straw," she muttered, tasting the words in her mouth, feeling the strangeness of them.

"Yes." Shepard smiled, handing her the white straw.

"Straw sounds stupid, I'll call it the emergency induction port. Father says it's what my mother used to call them," she responded, positioning the straw in a spot on her mask, and plopping the end into the drink.

"That's cute," John stated, picking up his own drink and sipping from it.

_He thinks I'm cute?_ Tali thought with a smile on her lips, fighting it away as she continued to sip on the straw.

"How are your parents, your mom and dad?" Shepard asked, setting his drink down and looking to Tali.

"Ah, my mother died … a while after giving birth to me," she said in a sad tone, "but my father is still alive, and an admiral on the Migrant Fleet."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Shepard replied with a sympathetic smile.

"It's fine. What about your family?" she asked, fearing the response.

For a moment he just stared, pursing his lips and seeming to be in deep thought. "dead." He sighed.

"Wow, that's … that's terrible. I can't imagine what it would be like to lose all of your family. All I have left is my father, and we hardly even see one another as it is."

"I'm sorry," Garrus chimed in.

"No, it's okay," Shepard said, nodding slowly, trying not to remember any of it.

Garrus nodded in respect and mourning, looking down to his now empty glass.

A small silence ensued.

"Anyway," Shepard spoke up, breaking the silence at the table, "looks like we're out of drinks." Shepard lifted his empty glass, looking to the other empty ones.

The bartender walked up to the trio, another round of drinks in his hands. "This is from the table over there." He pointed across the room, to a table where several women sat, all of them dressed in tight and provocative clothing. They raised their own glasses to Shepard from afar, one of them jutting her chest out to John, showing off her large perky bosoms. All of them smiling cutely at Shepard, some winking.

"Damn, they seem to like you," Garrus said, peaking over his shoulder and looking back to Shepard.

_Bosh'tet sluts._ Tali groaned in thought, narrowing her eyes at the table of women, all human.

Shepard smiled, lifting a glass of the alcoholic beverage to them, in a far away toast before he would sip the drink.

_Oh, does he like them? I thought he would have ignored them, maybe he's different from most men, unless most men act like that … I've never been around many human men before. _Tali sighed, watching Shepard exchange smiles with the women.

Though what he did next surprised her.

Shepard tipped the glass to the floor, emptying the liquid to the ground, the smile he had worn was now gone.

"Ha!" Garrus barked out a laugh. "Funny, but was it really necessary? They were just flirting a bit. Besides, it's a free drink."

"Nah, they're bodies and posture screamed 'whore', which is not what I'm looking for." he said, setting the empty glass onto the tray.

_I wonder what my body and posture 'screams' to Shepard?_ Tali thought to herself, looking down at her own body, thinking she didn't look like a 'whore' but also didn't think she looked very appealing. She sighed, and looked back up to Shepard and Garrus.

"And like I said, not really fond of alcohol anyway," Shepard finished, clearing his throat after.

"Why not?" Garrus asked.

Shepard's eyes looked cold, and quiet, staring at the center of the table without any real object to look at. He eventually raised his eyes to meet Tali's larger and shining ones. "It makes me act weird … say things I don't mean." He gave Tali another sympathetic smile, for what reason though, she didn't know.

"Meh, that's the point of getting drunk." Garrus shrugged.

Shepard turned to Garrus. "I never asked about your parents, Garrus. What are they like?"

"Oh, all this talk of parents made me remember, I needed to message my father. He likes me sending him updates on my pilgrimage, and to make sure I'm okay." Tali stood from the booth, maneuvering around Shepard to leave.

"So soon, you couldn't stay a little while longer?" Shepard asked, standing to allow her to leave.

"Why, you want me to stay?" She asked, hoping for a 'yes'.

"Well, I mean, if you wanted to, but if your father wants to talk with you, I shouldn't keep you."

"Oh, I suppose you're right. It was really nice talking with you today, and meeting you in general, I'm glad it happened the way it did." She gave John a smile, maybe there was a chance he could see it through the opaque helmet, just maybe.

He returned a smile, and nodded to her. "I feel the same."

"I'll see you both again, on the Normandy?" she asked.

"Yes, the docks above C-Sec," Shepard clarified.

Tali smiled again, and nodded, turning and exiting the bar through the way they had came in.

* * *

><p>"Anyway, so my dad," Garrus started the conversation back up, waiting for Shepard to take his seat again. "He always thought it'd be better if I joined C-Sec, rather than the turian military, or even the spectres," Garrus continued until cut off by another turian.<p>

"Hello," the turian started, looking down at Shepard in particular, a strange smile on his green painted face. From the looks of it he was C-Sec, wearing their armor on his body.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was finished speaking," Garrus said in response to the turian, looking offended at him.

"You can finish your story in a second, I just wanted to talk with the Commander for a moment." the strange man replied, calmly looking to Garrus then back to John.

The turian looked over his shoulder, to who, Shepard or Garrus were unsure. Though they both noticed him nod, to whoever it was he saw.

"What do you want?" Shepard asked, starting to stand from his seat.

"I don't want anything, though I have a present for you." The turian C-Sec reached into a pocket of his regular C-Sec armor, pulling out what Shepard assumed could have been either a gun to kill him with, or an actual present for him. Probably the earlier of the two. But what reason would he have to kill either Shepard or Garrus?

Shepard was at least going to wait, going against his better judgment, to see what it was the man had in his pocket.

The cracking shot of a sniper rifle echoed through the bar, it's destination hitting firm in the turian's skull, dropping him backward to the floor in a bloody heap with his skull caved in from the impact.

The bystanders screamed and ran, covering their heads from more bullets that went flying into the bar from the same sounding weapon that killed the turian. All of the innocents running for the exit, some knocking into tables, stools, or each other before they could get out, finally deciding to glue themselves to the floor.

"Down!" John yelled to Garrus, who complied, hiding and sticking close to the thick railing that separated them from the shooter.

But he continued to shoot, not at Garrus or Shepard, but instead at other bar-goers, and at C-Sec.

Several of them struggled to pull weapons from their belts, or even firmly get a grip on them before they were dropped by the sniper. The gun was of such a high caliber it knocked the fighters back several feet upon impact, most of the shots hitting in the forehead, while a few struck their chests.

Garrus hoisted his sniper rifle from his back, gripping it tight in his hands, ready to give this foreign sniper and possible assassin a run for his money.

"Don't," John pleaded, thinking Garrus couldn't take the sniper out in time, and thinking he wasn't good enough.

"Please, I'm better than that hack," Garrus said in a mock tone, nodding to Shepard before standing up and aiming across the Citadel to the other buildings that the shots came from.

_Don't let him die, I just met him._ John thought.

Garrus mounted his rifle on the edge of the railing, using it for support as he quickly scanned the rooftops for the enemy.

"You see him?" Shepard asked quietly to Garrus, though there was no one near enough to care what he said, he still whispered out of instinct of being in a hostile environment all of a sudden.

"Mmm hmm …." Garrus mumbled positively, slowly dragging his sights along the rooftops of the building across from the bar, probably following the fleeing assassin.

"You got him!" Shepard yelled in angst.

Garrus answered with the bang of his weapon, a shot firing out, and hearing it pierce a target.

"Did you get him?" Shepard asked again.

"Yes," Garrus started.

Shepard sighed with gratitude.

"In the leg I think …."

Shepard and Garrus shared a look, and sighed. "He gone?" Shepard asked.

"Yup, he ran into a hall that leads somewhere, not sure where to though."

John looked to the C-Sec that had been the first dead, crawling over to him, and opening the coat pocket he had his hand stuffed in to find out what it was he intended to give him.

There was no gun, just by the looks of it, an omni-tool, of a newer design, which could have been a gift for Shepard … for whatever reason the C-Sec would have for giving him a gift … it looked to be one. _Maybe it was for taking Saren down, being the first human spectre, or helping take down Fist. _Shepard thought up possible explanations, not sure which one was the reasoning.

John let the omni-tool roll to the floor from his finger tips, and laid on the ground, resting for a moment.

* * *

><p>Tali was talking a peaceful and casual walk to the Normandy, in no rush, instead she took the quiet time to reflect on Shepard, her father, and herself.<p>

_I'm going on a mission, for who knows how long, with Commander Shepard, on a top-secret ship, and I don't even feel odd about it. Is that strange? _She asked herself as she walked through the halls of the Citadel, getting closer to the Normandy's location, closer to C-Sec.

It seemed that the Citadel was occupied by ghosts in these halls, for Tali was the only one to walk them, but several sounds accompanied her, like the sounds and echoes of running footsteps.

Tali turned to see what the sound was exactly, and from who it was coming from.

When she turned to meet the person who was in a sprint toward her, she was knocked to the ground on impact with said person, who also stumbled.

"Hey! Watch where you're going," Tali cried out, looking up at a fellow quarian, the one who had rammed into her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you. Give me your hand," he said, in a voice that sounded like two dreadnaught's grinding hulls against each other. He stood there holding out his three fingered quarian hand for her to take.

She motioned to take it, but stopped to notice his leg, a hole in the suit, from which a steady stream of red blood dripped. "You're … you're hurt." She pointed to his leg.

"I noticed, now do you want help up or not?" he persisted in the same strange and incomplete voice he spoke with earlier, constantly turning his head down the halls to look for someone.

_What's wrong with his voice? He sounds so weird._ Tali thought, squinting in question at the man. _Maybe his suit's vocalizer is broken._

Tali accepted, taking his hand and standing up to her normal height. "Orange is a pretty color for a suit," Tali said, looking at the orange and silver themed suit of his. The black suit mesh armor from which was pierced and leaking blood was decorated with several silver plates of armor. His chest piece, covered up by part of an orange shoulder cloth—like a cloak—bore a familiar symbol on it, but Tali couldn't put a name to it. "That's a strange symbol, is that from your birth ship?"

Tali stared deeply through his orange plate covering his face, trying to make out features of his face like she could do with few other quarians, but she couldn't make out any features, but the faint shining of an eye. _That's a really opaque mask then, if I can hardly even tell he has eyes through there._

He cocked his head at Tali, in deep thought of something she didn't know. "Your voice … it's … it's …." he muttered, and his head ticked to the left, looking down at her slightly smaller body.

_Woah, his head twitches, that's also pretty weird._ She noted in her head.

"You're bleeding, you need to get to a doctor, and get your suit patched!" Tali screamed out, remembering his injury, backing up from him to look down at his leg.

Loud yells of voices rounded the corner, bringing Tali's attention to the long distant hall. "Where'd he go! I think he went down this way!"

"I am sorry for disturbing you," he nodded to Tali politely, though the broken voice he spoke with still put her on edge, apologizing again for bumping in to her. "Excuse me, ma'am." He nodded to her, stepping past her and limping away with great speed.

_He was a little strange._ Tali noted in thought, watching him disappear behind the hall to the left of her.

With his leaving, a band of seven C-Sec rounded the other side of the hall, running in Tali's direction. "Did you see where he went!" a few of them yelled as they came close to her.

"What?" Tali asked, watching them come to a halt next to her.

"Damn it girl! Tell us, did you see which way he went?" another man asked, panting and waiting for an answer.

"Yes," Tali admitted, turning to face the hallways he had left in. "That way." She pointed to the right hall, the opposite one the man had ran down.

"Good, come on boys! The suit-rat went this way! Get out of the way!" one of them yelled, pushing by Tali and turning down the right hall with five others with him.

_Dumb bosh'tets. _Tali thought and laughed quietly. _I bet he didn't even do anything wrong, they just hate him because he's quarian, poor guy, I'm glad I helped him now, especially after he was so kind to me and these men were so rude._

"I'm not stupid like them," another man said next to Tali, the seventh member of the C-Sec group that had come to talk to her.

"I said he went that-" Tali started.

But the man quickly interceded. "I know what you said, but it was a fucking lie. I saw him run the other way before he left, and he's probably all the way back on the Flotilla by now."

Tali felt her heart skip a beat. _Oh no, if he has any proof that I aided a criminal I can go to jail, then I'll never be able to help Shepard catch Saren. Wait, I'll be in jail, I'll never be able to do anything for years now. This is terrible! All because I helped that man, who might have been an actual criminal. I'm not sure if it was worth it now. _"I'm sorry, I … I just …."

"If you were really sorry, you wouldn't have done it. That suit-rat bastard killed several C-Sec at Ford's Foodery, and if I can't make him pay, then I'll make you pay." He reached his hand down to his boot, pulling from it a combat knife, and flashing it around in front of her.

"You're not going to kill me," Tali said in fright, backing up a few inches as he looked at the blade and then her.

"Honey, that's exactly what I'm going to do," he said with an evil smile.

Tali didn't have time to run when he had punched her, forcing his fist at her gut, collapsing her to the ground and coughing.

"Hurt didn't it?" he asked with a laugh.

"No ... please ... don't." Tali kept one hand on her stomach, holding it in a clenching pain, holding the other up to shield herself from his weapon.

"Shut up and die already you suit-rat." He pushed her hand away, pushing her down into the floor with a hand, holding her still, and raising his knife in the air with the other.

_No, Shepard, Garrus, someone help me. _Tali thought, warm water falling from her eyes as she whimpered under the man, thinking she was basically dead already.

Right when all seemed lost for Tali, she heard that same deep, cracking, and broken voice as before.

"Are you a man or a snake that you would threaten a woman?" the quarian in orange asked, a sniper rifle hoisted in his arms, pointed at the turian who still remained atop Tali.

"You fucking suit-" He was cut off the the cracking of the gun, the force sending him back to the ground with a gaping hole in his hard turian skull, dropping the knife far from Tali.

"Rat," the quarian finished, lowering the sniper rifle to his waist. His head twitched several times again, jolting at strange times and odd directions that looked uncomfortable.

_Maybe I don't regret saving him now, he saved me, he saved my life. What a stupid girl I was for regretting helping him, good deeds always come to those who do good in the universe, or so I thought. _Tali's sight started to darken, and the sound became a mumble around her. She was passing out. _He seems like such a good guy._ Was Tali's last thought before she fainted, knocking her head against the hard and cold floor of the hallway.

* * *

><p><strong>Note:<strong> Enter, bad-guy number two. He might not seem much like a bad-guy now … but give him time, mwuahahahaha! And he is a different quarian from the other quarian OC, you can remember them by the colors, this assassin wear's orange with an orange faceplate, while the other one wear's white with a black faceplate. Their names will come up later.

Thought I'd put this chapter out, since I took like two weeks to do the last one.

Don't forget to follow, favorite, or review. Remember, every time you do, you save a koala. And every time you don't, I kill ten koalas!


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